Avanza Fonder AB Invests $1.52 Million in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 26,044 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,524,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $59.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $48.69 and a 52 week high of $65.49. 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 of $60.28 and a 200-day moving average of $58.52.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.