Virtu Financial LLC Grows Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 82.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,061 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 17,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 711,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,651,000 after purchasing an additional 224,805 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 234.1% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 39,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,306,000 after purchasing an additional 27,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 26,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.5 %

WRB stock opened at $64.39 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.24 and its 200 day moving average is $59.99. The firm has a market cap of $24.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 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.