Victory Capital Management Inc. Buys 79,871 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 994,319 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 79,871 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.26% of W.R. Berkley worth $70,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.76. 3,744,180 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,816,216. 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 fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $26.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's fifty day moving average is $72.28 and its 200 day moving average is $66.70.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.