W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Boosted by BloombergSen Inc.

BloombergSen Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 762,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 254,133 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises 2.5% of BloombergSen Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. BloombergSen Inc. owned about 0.20% of W. R. Berkley worth $43,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in 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% during the second 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 holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.7 %

WRB stock opened at $59.62 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $44.88 and a 12-month high of $61.96. The company has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.