Stifel Financial Corp Has $52.06 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 889,563 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 121,770 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.23% of W. R. Berkley worth $52,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Barclays PLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $83,372,000 after acquiring an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,590 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $88,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,709,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $98,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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. Barclays raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.90.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $70.84 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year 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 firm has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $64.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend 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.

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