National Bank of Canada FI Boosts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 71.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 212,777 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 88,981 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.08% of W. R. Berkley worth $15,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,946,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $409,735,000 after purchasing an additional 154,468 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,001,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $127,097,000 after buying an additional 98,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,748,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,019,000 after purchasing an additional 62,917 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on WRB shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $78.54 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. 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.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

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.