GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires New Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $76.65 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

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.