W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 55.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 267,013 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 95,059 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $15,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 47,515 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 59.8% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 9,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 3,688 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,647 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,724,000 after buying an additional 20,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 52,498 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,978,000 after acquiring an additional 18,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $70.15 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

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.