Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires 4,159 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,248 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,159 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after acquiring an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after acquiring an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $1.66 on Thursday, hitting $72.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,237,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,059. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $68.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 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 company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 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 Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.