Captrust Financial Advisors Has $2.53 Million Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,159 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $83,372,000 after purchasing an additional 646,973 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 182.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 26,930 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 25,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,466,000 after buying an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $72.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.39.

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.