Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 60.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 336,027 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 126,664 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.09% of W. R. Berkley worth $19,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

WRB opened at $62.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $62.54. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $58.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.