Isthmus Partners LLC Sells 2,446 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Isthmus Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 226,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,446 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley comprises about 1.6% of Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Isthmus Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $13,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.3% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 58,776 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,334,000 after buying an additional 7,811 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $239,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after buying an additional 10,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 90,408 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,129,000 after acquiring an additional 37,569 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $62.57 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.