W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 52.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,064 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,743 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 224.2% in 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 acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $968,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,671 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 26.9% during the 2nd 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 increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,222 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $63.63. The stock had a trading volume of 795,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,753,841. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.14.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.22.

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.