Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,877 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,877 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,278 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $73.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.99. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $51.41 and a 52 week high of $76.38. 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 data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a $0.09 dividend. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley 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.