BIP Wealth LLC Acquires 1,412 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

BIP Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,412 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 58.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $75,645,000 after acquiring an additional 490,669 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 1,363,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,340,000 after acquiring an additional 439,853 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 987,823 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $56,039,000 after acquiring an additional 316,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 911,062 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,685,000 after purchasing an additional 303,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $60.19 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.27. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.