W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 35,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. First Manhattan Co. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 486 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 549.0% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 662 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.00.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $62.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 552,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,952. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $76.99. The firm has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 17.65% and a net margin of 10.85%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 26th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.67%.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.