W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 70.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,754,383 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,140,349 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.72% of W.R. Berkley worth $193,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 140.0% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 360 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $68.70 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $62.87 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.41 and a 200-day moving average of $68.86. The firm has a market cap of $25.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. Brean Capital cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.81.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.