Stephens Inc. AR Has $19.12 Million Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 268,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 11,675 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR owned approximately 0.07% of W.R. Berkley worth $19,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial lifted their target price 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 research report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock traded up $0.47 on Monday, reaching $69.35. 275,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,789,687. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $51.41 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.54. The stock has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

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.