W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,963 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,473,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after acquiring an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 53,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 15,025 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 27,817 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $870,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $82.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $84.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.96. The firm has a market cap of $21.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on WRB. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.88.

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.