Adalta Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,045 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Adalta Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,045 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $61,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5%

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

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.