Bridgefront Capital LLC Invests $440,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,521 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amundi increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $560,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of WRB traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $72.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,105,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,299. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $27.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

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.