America First Investment Advisors LLC Sells 12,883 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

America First Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 411,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,883 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley accounts for 5.3% of America First Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. America First Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of W. R. Berkley worth $24,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.5 %

WRB opened at $64.39 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.99. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

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.