Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 38,474 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 69.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 93,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,474 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFS Partners LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $61.01 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

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.