W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Custom Index Systems LLC

Custom Index Systems LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 126.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,575 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,029 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,801,000. Prudential PLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $3,245,000. CHB Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $2,880,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,875,000 after buying an additional 10,053 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE WRB traded down $1.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.16. 1,826,162 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,811,569. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.20 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.