Nilsine Partners LLC Invests $243,000 in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Nilsine Partners LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,408 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after acquiring an additional 103,350 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $272,582,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.64.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock traded down $0.69 on Tuesday, hitting $73.23. 1,642,682 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,766,240. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company 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 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.35%.

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.