Mather Group LLC. Acquires New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $78.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.80. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued 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 of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

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.