Horizon Advisory Services Inc. Acquires New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Horizon Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000. W. R. Berkley makes up approximately 0.2% of Horizon Advisory Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $62.34 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day moving average is $59.31. 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 $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, research 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.