Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 59.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,095 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. EULAV Asset Management grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 1,564,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $88,776,000 after buying an additional 521,630 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $75,645,000 after buying an additional 490,669 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 1,363,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,340,000 after acquiring an additional 439,853 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,134,214 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $64,344,000 after acquiring an additional 350,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $64.94 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.73. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.