Stevens Capital Management LP Has $901,000 Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 75%, acquiring a total of 12,657 shares valued at approximately $901,000.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported an EPS of $1.05 for the quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, alongside revenue of $3.10 billion.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, yielding an annualized dividend of $0.36 at a payout ratio of 8.20%.

Stevens Capital Management LP raised its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 75.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,657 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 5,425 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,676,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,787,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $663,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.62. 667,337 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,929,992. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $53.65 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The company's 50 day moving average price is $71.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued 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. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a boost 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 was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.