Ameriprise Financial Inc. Grows Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 148,880 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,222 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 18,095 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,059,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 125.1% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,878 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 4,934 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 81,130 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,748,000 after buying an additional 18,705 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,233,000. Finally, Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,427,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays increased 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.92 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $73.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,261,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,616. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.82. The company has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

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

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.