Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Takes $14.06 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 240,217 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,057,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.06% of W. R. Berkley as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,396,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,705. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $70.64.

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.