Sage Capital Advisors llc Buys 2,500 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Intelligent Financial Strategies acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $57.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.57 and a 200-day moving average of $55.47. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $41.82 and a 1 year high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.67.

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.