Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 98,826 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 105.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after buying an additional 16,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 44,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after buying an additional 14,748 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $70.15 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, 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 the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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 boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.21.

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.