National Pension Service Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 71.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 591,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 247,681 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.15% of W. R. Berkley worth $33,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 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 worth $197,838,000 after buying an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after acquiring an additional 26,464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price 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. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.79. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $44.88 and a 12-month high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

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.