Brighton Jones LLC Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 75.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $56.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.22 and a 200 day moving average of $58.66. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS 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 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.