Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Buys 37,999 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 282,266 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,999 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $19,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 104.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,735,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $121,934,000 after buying an additional 885,417 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 35,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,491,000 after buying an additional 11,400 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 33,170 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $88,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE WRB opened at $69.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.30. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $62.87 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.