17,330 Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Purchased by Invst LLC

Key Points

• Invst LLC recently purchased 17,330 shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation, totaling about $1.23 million, indicating growing institutional interest in the insurance provider.
• W.R. Berkley's shares have seen varying ratings from analysts, with a recent consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $72.54.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share to be paid on September 30th, representing a 0.5% dividend yield.

Invst LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,330 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,233,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $73.84 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.80 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $70.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.80.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.

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