W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Cypress Advisory Group LLC

Cypress Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,910 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley comprises approximately 1.6% of Cypress Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Cypress Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amundi raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after acquiring an additional 444,986 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 130,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,673,000 after purchasing an additional 8,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 13,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $73.17 on Monday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.99. The stock has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.41 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.01 billion for 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 predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.