Independent Advisor Alliance Buys 2,382 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,382 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $61.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.71. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. 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.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. One research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.