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

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,521 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 78.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $83,372,000 after buying an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $98,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 182.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 26,930 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,703,000 after purchasing an additional 20,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Barclays increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.8%

WRB stock traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $71.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 363,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,764,481. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.73. 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 capitalization of $26.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.