W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 270,524 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR owned about 0.07% of W.R. Berkley worth $19,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 144.7% during the second quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 9,370 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $688,000 after acquiring an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 42.6% during the second quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,937 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 2,668 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the second quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 158,438 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,640,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $333,000. Finally, Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the second quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 261,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE WRB opened at $73.96 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.97 and a twelve month high of $78.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $28.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.86.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.