American Century Companies Inc. Has $27.59 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 351,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,687 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.09% of W. R. Berkley worth $27,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 14,933 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after buying an additional 14,639 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 249.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 386,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,364,000 after acquiring an additional 276,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after acquiring an additional 46,125 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $57.81 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.09 and a 200-day moving average of $73.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $41.37 and a 52-week high of $61.28. The company has a market cap of $22.17 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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 company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

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.