Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,719 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,047,000.
Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,420 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.
W.R. Berkley Stock Performance
W.R. Berkley stock traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.01. 727,309 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,930,009. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $53.65 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.
W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.
W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have commented on WRB. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.75.
Read Our Latest Research Report on W.R. Berkley
W.R. Berkley Profile
(
Free Report)
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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