Jones Financial Companies Lllp Has $138,000 Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 66.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 939 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of WRB opened at $63.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.78.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.