Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY Buys 3,440 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,440 shares during the period. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WRB. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,252,000 after buying an additional 30,833 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 60,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 20,250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

WRB opened at $64.55 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.94. The firm has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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 company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

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.