GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys Shares of 12,908 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 12,908 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $732,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the second quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $60.74 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $61.96. 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 50-day moving average price of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.18. The firm has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend 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 currently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.