W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,482 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.4 %

WRB stock opened at $58.51 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.50. 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. The firm has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

W. R. Berkley Profile

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.