Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $12.58 Million Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 214,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,087 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $12,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 42.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,291,000 after buying an additional 96,292 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after buying an additional 7,968 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the third 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 period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $71.21 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.