4,248 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 92.3% during the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $80.98 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.64. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The company has a market capitalization of $20.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.22.

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.