W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Holdings Boosted by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE WRB opened at $63.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.92. The company has a market capitalization of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, sell-side 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

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.