Burney Co. Decreases Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Burney Co. lowered its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 14.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 98,804 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 16,446 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $6,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stance Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 376.1% during the third quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after purchasing an additional 38,013 shares in the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $2,801,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $1,630,000. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 105.4% during the 4th quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 29,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,082,000 after buying an additional 15,240 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 118,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,336,000 after buying an additional 18,820 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $70.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.87 and a one year high of $78.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.23.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Argus downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.50.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.