International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 126,844 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 126,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,970,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,304 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB opened at $78.71 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $83.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.06. The stock has a market cap of $20.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion during 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%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.