Prospector Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Prospector Partners LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 94,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after acquiring an additional 898,027 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $37,915,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 190.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,254,000 after purchasing an additional 313,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.45 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. 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 $41.37 and a 1-year high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.