JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 642 shares during the quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 36,864 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,091,000 after acquiring an additional 11,935 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 8.1% in the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,842 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.4% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 18,603 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 283,597 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $16,088,000 after buying an additional 93,017 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $44.67 and a 52 week high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.91%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.