Callan Family Office LLC Makes New Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $62.57 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley 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.