34,193 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Bought by Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC

Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 34,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,433,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Norges Bank bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $98,446,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $172,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $89,691,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $74.23 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.17 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $28.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

About W. R. Berkley

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.