Unigestion Holding SA Boosts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Unigestion Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 43.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,222 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after acquiring an additional 47,515 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 136,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,768,000 after purchasing an additional 44,384 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 121.7% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 16,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 6.8 %

NYSE WRB opened at $65.53 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $76.38. 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.56.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley 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.