W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Lifted by Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,151 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116,773 shares during the quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.07% of W. R. Berkley worth $14,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after buying an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $63.65 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.02. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.75 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

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.