Trexquant Investment LP Purchases New Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 98,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,787,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $65.53 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.54.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. 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.