AMI Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

AMI Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EULAV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,791,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 43,321 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 7,656 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 243,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,469,000 after acquiring an additional 9,792 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,903,000 after acquiring an additional 39,561 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $69.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $88.44 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

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.