4,399 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Amundi increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $560,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,766,000 after purchasing an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $73.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.49 and its 200 day moving average is $63.19. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on 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, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.39.

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.