Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Buys Shares of 2,835 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 612.2% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,904,000 after acquiring an additional 865,205 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 213.9% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $72,884,000 after acquiring an additional 782,280 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $358,039,000 after acquiring an additional 699,297 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after acquiring an additional 529,817 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $20,205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE WRB traded down $1.26 on Friday, reaching $76.65. The stock had a trading volume of 1,435,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,438,617. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

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.