CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Acquires 1,210 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 335,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $19,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd 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. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $59.92 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.29 and its 200 day moving average is $58.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $48.48 and a twelve month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

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.