Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 43.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,701 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,435 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 84.7% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 10,284 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 4,715 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.8% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 119,050 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,754,000 after purchasing an additional 37,950 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 121,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,905,000 after buying an additional 25,385 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 127,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,257,000 after buying an additional 46,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 591,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,582,000 after acquiring an additional 247,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.62 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $44.88 and a 1 year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.