14,995 Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,995 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $5,676,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $5,787,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $663,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $68.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,370,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,356,825. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $71.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.14. The firm has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $52.64 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.