New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Takes $1.16 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $71.18 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $61.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.28. The stock has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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