W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by State Street Corp

State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 48.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 3.97% of W. R. Berkley worth $857,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 767,793 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $43,557,000 after purchasing an additional 255,813 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,788,000 after buying an additional 16,167 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 238,892 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $13,552,000 after acquiring an additional 82,542 shares during the period. Finally, Maren Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 52.0% during the third quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 973,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $55,209,000 after acquiring an additional 333,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,467,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,862. The company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.