FineMark National Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 3,588 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

FineMark National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $65.22 on Thursday. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.02. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $66.14. The firm has a market cap of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

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.