Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 493 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,707 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 612.2% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,904,000 after purchasing an additional 865,205 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 213.9% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $72,884,000 after purchasing an additional 782,280 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $358,039,000 after purchasing an additional 699,297 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $20,205,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $77.91 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.22. The company has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.93 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.80%.

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.