W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Lifted by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 218.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,173 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 44,693 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 224.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 43,339 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,833,000 after purchasing an additional 29,970 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $968,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,671 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 26.9% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,931 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 29.5% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,222 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of 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. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.63. 795,139 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,753,841. The firm has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.