Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Raises Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 54,530 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley accounts for about 1.4% of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.97% of W. R. Berkley worth $593,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 146,123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,482,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040 shares in the last quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $479,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd 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. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 34,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,745,000 after buying an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.5% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.16. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s 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.