Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 70,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,031,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,615 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 994,319 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $70,756,000 after buying an additional 79,871 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 14,797 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,053,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 28.6% during the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 17,412 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.5% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,779 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $68.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,827,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,805,871. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.41 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.38 and a 200 day moving average of $66.63. The company has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. 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 0.53%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

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.