W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stake Increased by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 121.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.77% of W. R. Berkley worth $172,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock traded down $0.32 on Monday, reaching $72.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,517,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,768,833. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $27.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend 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%.

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.