Wedmont Private Capital Grows Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.89.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $58.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.51. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $41.82 and a 52-week high of $61.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.39%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.