Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. Buys 300 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,349 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley makes up 1.6% of Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. Truist Financial increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $59.57 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $48.69 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.48. The firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67. 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, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 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.