4,866 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Purchased by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,866 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 427.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $790,947,000 after purchasing an additional 8,831,553 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $795,136,000 after acquiring an additional 4,732,333 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $199,140,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 119.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $224,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840,475 shares in the last quarter. 67.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $61.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.48 and its 200-day moving average is $62.54. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $55.50 and a one year high of $76.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 17.79% and a net margin of 10.85%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 26th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.45.

About W. R. Berkley

(Free Report)

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.

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