Heartland Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 90,988 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 90,988 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,435,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $79.31. 795,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,231,965. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.64. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $20.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 20.51%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

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.