W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Position Raised by Achmea Investment Management B.V.

Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 15.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,508 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the first quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,258,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.34 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.67.

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.