Ossiam Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Ossiam increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,790 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 4,128 shares during the period. Ossiam's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.8 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.28 on Friday, hitting $70.47. 1,814,722 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,772,830. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $65.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.81. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. 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 $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during 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, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.