W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Raised by Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC

Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,892 shares during the period. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $246,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 62,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,265,000 after buying an additional 9,762 shares during the period. Applied Capital LLC FL grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 19,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the first quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 264,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $23,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,826,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,811,569. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $43.20 and a one year high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.