Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Has $514,000 Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,061 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,952,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. DF Dent & Co. Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 25,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,435,000 after buying an additional 8,295 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 117.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 247,455 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,038,000 after buying an additional 133,731 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $58.85 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. 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. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WRB. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.28.

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.