18,079 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by Woodline Partners LP

Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,079 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,058,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted 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 in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 79.9% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.68 on Friday, reaching $74.64. 4,276,324 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,767,948. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company's 50-day moving average is $70.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.