Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Acquires New Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded down $1.26 on Friday, reaching $76.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,435,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,438,617. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $55.50 and a one year high of $89.18. The business’s 50-day moving average is $84.26 and its 200 day moving average is $76.31.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.