Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $77.34 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 47.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,363,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 439,853 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $77,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 25.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 36,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 5.6% in 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. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,045 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $59.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.82. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $44.88 and a twelve month high of $61.96.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.