OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A Raises Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $63.65 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. 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 has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.87.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.