Cornerstone Financial Group LLC NE Takes $233,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cornerstone Financial Group LLC NE acquired a new stake in shares of 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 and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,975 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.47. 1,105,887 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,767,299. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $51.17 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.