Comerica Bank Raises Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Comerica Bank increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,623 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,535 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE WRB opened at $72.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $27.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $66.50 and a 200-day moving average of $62.28.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.39.

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.