Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Buys 4,715 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,284 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,715 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 25.4% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 36,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 13,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 41,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,643,000 after buying an additional 1,782 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.88 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

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.