Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New $201,000 Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 3,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 279.1% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 907 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.6% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,877 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,743 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE WRB opened at $63.27 on Friday. 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 one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, sell-side 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on 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, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.