W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Raised by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,042 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $63.72 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.