Marshall Wace LLP Buys 83,540 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 307.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,735 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 83,540 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped 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. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, hitting $70.63. The company had a trading volume of 330,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,000. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.70 and a 200-day moving average of $61.94. 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 twelve month low of $51.13 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.