W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 889,563 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 121,770 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.23% of W. R. Berkley worth $52,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $70.64. 379,347 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,765,850. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.13 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock's 50 day moving average is $65.50 and its 200-day moving average is $61.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.