W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Manchester Financial Inc.

Manchester Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,668 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises 0.6% of Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $246,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 62,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,265,000 after acquiring an additional 9,762 shares in the last quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 19,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 264,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $23,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given 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 $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $58.16 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.60. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $43.20 and a 52-week high of $61.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.