Tortoise Investment Management LLC Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 69.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $77,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $62.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average of $59.68.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.