W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,042 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,796,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $105,151,000 after buying an additional 50,751 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 40,044 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 121.9% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

WRB stock opened at $63.72 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.