W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Mount Lucas Management LP

Mount Lucas Management LP grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 100.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,497 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,814 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley comprises about 0.7% of Mount Lucas Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Mount Lucas Management LP's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Adalta Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded up $0.41 on Friday, hitting $68.95. 1,370,163 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,356,825. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.64 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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 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 business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

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.