Forte Capital LLC ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Forte Capital LLC ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,332 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. State Street Corp increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.18. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. 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 company has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.