W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 469,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,997 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.12% of W. R. Berkley worth $27,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 7.4 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $71.21 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.18. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.