KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires Shares of 104,879 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 104,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,138,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 57.0% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 36,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after acquiring an additional 13,385 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 28.0% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 99.3% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,055,000 after purchasing an additional 42,834 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WRB opened at $64.39 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $24.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

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.