Axa S.A. Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

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

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% in the 3rd 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 position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $98,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 182.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,703,000 after purchasing an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Monday, reaching $71.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 252,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,763,915. The company has a market cap of $27.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The firm's 50-day moving average is $67.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.73. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.