Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $3.55 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 24.6% in the first quarter, owning 49,877 shares valued at approximately $3.55 million.
• A range of hedge funds have boosted their investments in W.R. Berkley, with notable increases from Brandywine Global Investment Management and Aberdeen Group, enhancing overall institutional ownership to 68.82%.
• W.R. Berkley recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, reflecting a 0.5% dividend yield and an 8.20% payout ratio.

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,877 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,833 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,676,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $663,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 247,919 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $17,642,000 after purchasing an additional 7,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 43,248 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,531,000 after purchasing an additional 4,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE WRB traded down $0.4150 on Friday, reaching $72.0950. The company had a trading volume of 1,423,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,868,507. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.80 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The company's fifty day moving average is $70.61 and its 200-day moving average is $68.74.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

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.