BIP Wealth LLC Acquires New Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,846 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $78.01. 851,967 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,253,544. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $84.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.21.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.63.

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.