Elm3 Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 33,489 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Elm3 Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 33,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,960,000. W. R. Berkley accounts for approximately 1.7% of Elm3 Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,606 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 3,384 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 55,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 17,147 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,242 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,474,000 after purchasing an additional 22,754 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 114.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,739 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.7% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,687 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $60.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

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.