W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,869,705 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 104,479 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.75% of W. R. Berkley worth $167,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the 4th 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. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.13.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.39. 506,320 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,797,517. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.89. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a PEG 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 fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38.

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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.