Sage Capital Advisors llc Has $1.47 Million Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 175.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,677 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,177 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $85,853,000 after acquiring an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $982,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,766,000 after purchasing an additional 4,363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9%

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.64. The stock had a trading volume of 4,276,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,948. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $70.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.15. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm 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%. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.