W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 22.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,635 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,089 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,582,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.42.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock traded down $2.78 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.08. The company had a trading volume of 556,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,764,008. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.84. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two 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 0.32.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.35%.

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.