W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $870,000 after buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 11,986 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.27 and a 200 day moving average of $58.61. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.10 and a 12 month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

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.