Leavell Investment Management Inc. Has $1.77 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,232 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 10,648 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6 %

WRB traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.55. 940,238 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,126,320. The company's fifty day moving average price is $58.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.88 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its 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. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 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 $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial increased 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 increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.