W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Net Worth Advisory Group

Net Worth Advisory Group raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,558 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 65,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,810,000 after acquiring an additional 2,382 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 68,376 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,001,000 after acquiring an additional 2,729 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 329.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 46,208 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 35,460 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after acquiring an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $62.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.68.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.