W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Axa S.A.

AXA S.A. increased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,130 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 18,705 shares during the period. AXA S.A.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $4,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $83,372,000 after buying an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 182.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 26,930 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $72.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,105,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,769,843. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.71. 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 (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS 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 issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.