Yousif Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,485 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,275 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 148.4% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.93.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 202,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.26 per share, with a total value of $14,192,520.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 49,211,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,457,630,763.88. This represents a 0.41% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 610,350 shares of company stock valued at $42,548,323 in the last quarter. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.55. The company has a market cap of $26.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 18.86%. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.56%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.