Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 36.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,701 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 10,731 shares during the quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted 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. 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock traded up $0.63 on Thursday, hitting $72.43. 1,520,631 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,766,747. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase 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 is 8.35%.

W.R. Berkley 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.