DF Dent & Co. Inc. Has $1.35 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,192 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WRB. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $773,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $70.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.49. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.