Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,253 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,534 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4%

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.17. 245,077 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,756,705. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $69.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $27.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $51.17 and a one 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 the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.