Zacks Investment Management Lowers Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Zacks Investment Management lowered its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 308,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 25,784 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $18,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $68.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.20.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Bank of America restated 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.59.

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.