W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Holdings Boosted by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 187.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,677 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. PFS Partners LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $61.01 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.27. 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 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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