Keel Point LLC Acquires New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Keel Point LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,517 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth 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. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.12. 2,145,517 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,765,076. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $66.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.