W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Raised by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,052 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,951 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Baxter Bros Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 50,354 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,857,000 after purchasing an additional 29,362 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 240,603 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 80,157 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 65.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the third quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 12,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 4,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 431,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $24,480,000 after purchasing an additional 101,937 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of WRB opened at $59.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $44.88 and a 12-month high of $61.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

About W. R. Berkley

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.