Cumberland Partners Ltd Has $2.81 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 37.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Creative Planning grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 73,973 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,197,000 after buying an additional 27,539 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $202,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,037,000 after purchasing an additional 33,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,290 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

WRB stock opened at $60.89 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $23.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.22 and its 200-day moving average is $59.17.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.33%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.