Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Buys 2,433 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,433 shares during the quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.53.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

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.