Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Takes $170,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $170,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,037,000 after purchasing an additional 33,097 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $236,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $92,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley 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 Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $61.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.25.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

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.