Prospector Partners LLC Increases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Prospector Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 194,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley makes up about 1.7% of Prospector Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $13,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,913,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 109,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,776,000 after acquiring an additional 3,625 shares during the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 577,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,823,000 after acquiring an additional 112,011 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WRB stock traded down $1.43 on Thursday, hitting $78.66. The stock had a trading volume of 308,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,212,595. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $82.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.04.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.