Storgate LLC Makes New Investment in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Storgate LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 9,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 140.0% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 360 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WRB. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $68.15 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $62.87 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $66.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.52.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.