LRT Capital Management LLC Acquires 7,751 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

LRT Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 39.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 27,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,751 shares during the period. LRT Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $773,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:WRB opened at $72.47 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $67.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.73. The company has a market capitalization of $27.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.39.

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.