W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,933,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 138,276 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.75% of W. R. Berkley worth $136,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 9.0% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 34,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 2,868 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 25.8% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 129.6% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 6,292 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.1% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 10,450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $79.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.73. The company has a market capitalization of $20.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.60. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 20.51%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

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.