Isthmus Partners LLC Boosts Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Isthmus Partners LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,630 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 74,382 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC owned 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $12,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $64.94 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.79. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.