Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $5.50 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 69.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,474 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PFS Partners LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $61.01 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.33%.

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.