Mission Wealth Management LP Buys New Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Mission Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,375 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CHB Investment Group LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 0.3% during the first quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC now owns 50,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,598,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.6% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 7.5% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,218 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $279,000. Finally, Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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 research report on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, May 22nd. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $70.64.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3%

WRB opened at $72.70 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.41 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $27.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.42. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $72.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.15.

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 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 business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.

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