Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New $4.80 Million Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 62,636 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,801,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.4 %

WRB traded up $1.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.51. 1,434,972 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,762,285. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.82 and a 1 year high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.