Mariner LLC Purchases 7,951 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mariner LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,045 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $83,372,000 after purchasing an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,590 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $88,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,709,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $98,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded down $1.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $70.29. The company had a trading volume of 450,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,771,617. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $26.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company's 50-day moving average is $65.30 and its 200-day moving average is $61.72.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). 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 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

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.