13,606 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,606 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $796,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. State Street Corp increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $62.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.31. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.