Baxter Bros Inc. Raises Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Baxter Bros Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 139.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,354 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 29,362 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $57.50. 1,317,182 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,235,861. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $58.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 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. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $44.67 and a 52-week high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.