Skba Capital Management LLC Acquires 400 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Skba Capital Management LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Skba Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,291,000 after buying an additional 96,292 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 7,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,624,000 after acquiring an additional 47,515 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $71.21 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.70 and a 200-day moving average of $60.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

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.