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

Cornerstone Financial Group LLC NE acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,975 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,446,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 121.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $172,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,565 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $71.35. 502,743 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,764,906. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $27.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. 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 moving average price of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.73.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 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.