W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 239,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $14,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $63.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.92. 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 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

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.