Wright Investors Service Inc. Makes New $392,000 Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wright Investors Service Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $392,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMI Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 120.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $804,000 after acquiring an additional 6,614 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 4,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $80.98 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.64. The company has a market capitalization of $20.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

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.