Elm3 Financial Group LLC Lowers Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Elm3 Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,362 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 5,127 shares during the period. W.R. Berkley comprises about 1.8% of Elm3 Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Elm3 Financial Group LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 10.4% in the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,175 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $1,067,000. Mount Lucas Management LP lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 100.8% during the first quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 31,497 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 15,814 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.5% during the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $131,096,000 after buying an additional 160,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.9% during the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,806 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.95. 1,370,163 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,356,825. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $52.64 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 19.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.