Geller Advisors LLC Takes $552,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Geller Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $0.24 on Tuesday, hitting $72.44. 119,587 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,762,382. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $27.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 7.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.39.

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.