Maridea Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 7,336 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC purchased 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 SEC. The institutional investor purchased 7,336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.16. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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%. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.