W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 37.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 262,082 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 71,027 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.07% of W. R. Berkley worth $14,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,073,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,006,367. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.46 and a 200 day moving average of $56.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.