First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 1,649 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EULAV Asset Management raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after purchasing an additional 39,716 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $78.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.88. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

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.