W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Gallacher Capital Management LLC

Gallacher Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 87.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,988 shares during the quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.6% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,946,000 after purchasing an additional 302,212 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,735,000 after purchasing an additional 154,468 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,001,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,097,000 after purchasing an additional 98,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,748,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $111,019,000 after buying an additional 62,917 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $78.56. 1,259,903 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,555,009. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.96. The stock has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.80%.

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.