Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,954 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 3.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 52,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,954 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 148.4% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $74.94 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.52. 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 capitalization of $28.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.56%.

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.