Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Takes Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 16,780 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 103.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,093 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 59.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,242 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,474,000 after purchasing an additional 22,754 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 41.2% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,606 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 3,384 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 55,472 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 17,147 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE WRB traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $61.44. 1,462,183 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,153,887. The firm has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 1.52 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

W. R. Berkley 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.