DAVENPORT & Co LLC Acquires 5,124 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 41.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,124 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 45.6% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $61.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.67. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

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.