Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 121,650 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $773,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $63.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.59 and a 200 day moving average of $59.43. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

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.