Procyon Advisors LLC Reduces Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Procyon Advisors LLC lowered its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,938 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 92.3% in the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.75 during trading on Thursday, hitting $88.92. 106,973 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,164,286. The company has a market cap of $22.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

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.