Diversify Wealth Management LLC Acquires 1,183 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 8.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,842 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $75,645,000 after purchasing an additional 490,669 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 987,823 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $56,039,000 after buying an additional 316,269 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 190.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,254,000 after buying an additional 313,234 shares during the period. Finally, Berkley W R Corp acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,138,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.02 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.66. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.24 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.