Compass Capital Corp MA ADV Acquires Shares of 5,387 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Compass Capital Corp MA ADV bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 5,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Creative Planning raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 59.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 73,973 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,197,000 after buying an additional 27,539 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,037,000 after acquiring an additional 33,097 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,290 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 97.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $61.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.