W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Holdings Lifted by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,087 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $12,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WRB. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,291,000 after acquiring an additional 96,292 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.6% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 7,968 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after acquiring an additional 47,515 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 7.4 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $71.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Sell-side 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley 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.