Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Invests $209,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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 note on Saturday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $61.34 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $23.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 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%. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

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.