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

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 68,376 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,001,000 after buying an additional 2,729 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 329.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 46,208 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 35,460 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $565,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $1,147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Barclays boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $61.98 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.71. The company has a market cap of $23.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick 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.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.