Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $56.51 on Friday. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $56.89 and a 200-day moving average of $72.40. The stock has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.37 and a 52 week high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.