SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,885 shares during the quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $75.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.72.

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

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.54.

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.