Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 5,222 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 148,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,222 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $98,446,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $89,691,000. Finally, Coho Partners Ltd. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $66,033,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE WRB opened at $73.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.97 and its 200 day moving average is $63.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $27.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.06.

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.