Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Cuts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership reduced its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 812,263 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 71,833 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $47,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 72.6% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,574,000 after buying an additional 41,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 105.4% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 16,167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $70.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.36. 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 released its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

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.