W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Heritage Family Offices LLP

Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,233 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,775 shares during the period. Heritage Family Offices LLP’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $291,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 268.2% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 1,576 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,901 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.6% during the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 20,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %

WRB stock opened at $59.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $22.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.50.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped 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 report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.31.

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.