ProShare Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,633 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,514 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $4,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $685,999,000 after acquiring an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $449,168,000 after acquiring an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.06.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $73.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The stock's 50 day moving average is $68.74 and its 200 day moving average is $63.35. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve month 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 announced 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 during 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, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. W. R. Berkley's 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.

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