Gallacher Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 31.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,831 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $732,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,967 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $235,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 111,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,318,000 after acquiring an additional 37,270 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $63.27 on Monday. 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 market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.78. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

W. R. Berkley 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.