Wallington Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wallington Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 54.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 398,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 140,365 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises approximately 3.2% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Wallington Asset Management LLC owned 0.10% of W. R. Berkley worth $22,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after buying an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after buying an additional 26,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $59.13 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $43.20 and a one year high of $61.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.32 and a 200 day moving average of $55.57. The company has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.