USS Investment Management Ltd Has $2.54 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

USS Investment Management Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,414 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 13,693 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amundi boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,766,000 after acquiring an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1%

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.36. The stock had a trading volume of 201,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,756,894. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $70.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.96. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve 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 firm has a market cap of $27.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.64.

About W. R. Berkley

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.