Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 154,468 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 154,468 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 2.25% of W. R. Berkley worth $409,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EULAV Asset Management grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $77.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,227,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,270,327. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. W. R. Berkley's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 7.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $90.63.

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.