Somerville Kurt F Takes Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Somerville Kurt F purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,810 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 234.1% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 39,405 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,306,000 after buying an additional 27,609 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 82.8% during the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,965 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 4,061 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 28,532 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 9,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 681,137 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $39,860,000 after buying an additional 118,020 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WRB traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,370,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,938,824. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $71.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $52.64 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.75.

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.