CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Has $2.55 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 43,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $69.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.43. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $76.38.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.