Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 46,141 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 387,141 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 46,141 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.10% of W.R. Berkley worth $27,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,842 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 5.0% in the first quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 20,727 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the period. Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 18.9% during the first quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,114 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,385 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,235,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,629. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $72.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.49. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.35%.

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.