Brighton Jones LLC Makes New $941,000 Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,301 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $941,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.6% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,946,000 after purchasing an additional 302,212 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $358,039,000 after buying an additional 699,297 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,001,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,097,000 after buying an additional 98,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,748,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $111,019,000 after acquiring an additional 62,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.