Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 932 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,006 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 932 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $997,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,498 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 13,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $775,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 108,810 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 4,571 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $73.75 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.50 and a 200 day moving average of $64.93. The stock has a market cap of $27.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38. 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 issued 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). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.64.

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.