Keel Point LLC Invests $206,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Keel Point LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,517 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 95,623 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,596,000 after acquiring an additional 16,535 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,301,692 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $76,175,000 after purchasing an additional 191,101 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 10,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,279,690 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $191,927,000 after buying an additional 560,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $72.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.27. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.39.

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.