Maridea Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 7,336 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,291,000 after purchasing an additional 96,292 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 7,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 47,515 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.21 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.16. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.