W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stake Boosted by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 240,603 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 80,157 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $13,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.4% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 36,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,269,000 after acquiring an additional 7,477 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 13,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,237,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 41,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.64 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $44.88 and a 52-week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.38 and its 200-day moving average is $55.79.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.