Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $84,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $447,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 9,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $409,735,000 after buying an additional 154,468 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $941,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $78.56 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. 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.