Vest Financial LLC Makes New $3.14 Million Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Vest Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 44,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,144,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $74.23 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $51.17 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $71.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.64. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.