Colonial Trust Co SC Raises Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 79.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $48,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $72.47 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.68. The stock has a market cap of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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. UBS Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.