Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 1,500 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 97,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.59.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $68.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.20.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 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.