Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Increases Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 259,058 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 3,839 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for approximately 2.4% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of W.R. Berkley worth $18,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. UBS Group raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.42.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $71.49. 1,422,342 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,777,817. The company has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.35%.

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.