3,574 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Bought by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 3,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 6,956 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 110.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 10,742 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 77.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 5,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 54.9% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 60,433 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,427,000 after buying an additional 21,431 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $61.34 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.35.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.