W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 132.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,638 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,924 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5%

WRB stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $73.63. 109,233 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,755,965. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.99. The company has a market capitalization of $27.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a $0.09 dividend. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. 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 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.