Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Has $360,000 Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 53.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,089 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 92.3% during the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE WRB traded up $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $81.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 422,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,177,935. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.64. The stock has a market cap of $21.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.22.

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.