EntryPoint Capital LLC Invests $229,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,921 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded down $0.87 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.38. The stock had a trading volume of 537,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,940,260. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.36. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.