KBC Group NV Has $6.18 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,846 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $59.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.48. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. On average, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 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.