W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by iSAM Funds UK Ltd

iSAM Funds UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 31.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,280 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $560,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,766,000 after acquiring an additional 4,363 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $73.47 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.17 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $27.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.42. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.06.

About W. R. Berkley

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.