Townsend & Associates Inc Purchases 79,932 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Townsend & Associates Inc raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 79.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 180,818 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 79,932 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley accounts for about 1.8% of Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $14,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock remained flat at $78.56 during trading on Thursday. 196,397 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,248,540. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.18. The company has a market capitalization of $20.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

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.