Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $99.06 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,746,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,834 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $99,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 12,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 4,095 shares during the period. America First Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.3% during the 3rd quarter. America First Investment Advisors LLC now owns 424,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $24,061,000 after buying an additional 139,973 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 234,816 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,321,000 after acquiring an additional 107,866 shares during the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 34,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 8,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 46.0% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 933,885 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,979,000 after purchasing an additional 294,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $64.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $64.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.