Baxter Bros Inc. Purchases 10,091 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Baxter Bros Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 60,445 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Amundi lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.4% in the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 156,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,871,000 after buying an additional 52,428 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $64.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.12 and its 200 day moving average is $59.95. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. 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.