Manchester Financial Inc. Has $1.85 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Manchester Financial Inc. lessened its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 36.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,035 shares during the quarter. Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 7,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 98.6% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,397 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 59.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 73,973 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,197,000 after buying an additional 27,539 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 14,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 4,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $61.57 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.97. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

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.