Cypress Advisory Group LLC Buys New Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 24,385 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,427,000. W. R. Berkley makes up about 1.3% of Cypress Advisory Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.56. 402,909 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,987,190. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.52 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G 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. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $66.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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, Barclays upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.39.

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.