Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 780 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $59.04 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.24 and a 200-day moving average of $58.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. Barclays decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.