Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Invests $573,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $573,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 6,956 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 110.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 10,742 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 5,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 54.9% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 60,433 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,427,000 after buying an additional 21,431 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on 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

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $62.13 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.39. The company has a market cap of $23.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. 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.