HM Payson & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 5.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,390 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $51.41 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.42.

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.