IFG Advisory LLC Has $327,000 Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

IFG Advisory LLC decreased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 16.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,590 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 919 shares during the quarter. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $70.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.62. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $53.65 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.