UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. Has $57.14 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) by 11.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 884,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 89,774 shares during the quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. owned approximately 0.33% of W. R. Berkley worth $57,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. James Investment Research Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 43.2% in the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Red Cedar Capital LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. First Manhattan Co. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 486 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. 71.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $62.66 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $60.89 and a twelve month high of $76.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.09. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 8th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, January 19th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

W. R. Berkley Profile

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W.R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the property casualty insurance business. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment includes excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia, Asia, and Australia.