Net Worth Advisory Group Invests $744,000 in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 13,113 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $744,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,801,000. Prudential PLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,245,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,875,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 174,543 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $13,716,000 after purchasing an additional 55,942 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.64.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.26. 7,725,215 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,793,264. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $58.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.56. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $41.82 and a 52-week high of $61.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.