Lido Advisors LLC Buys 10,020 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 53.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,020 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Brean Capital downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, March 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.44.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $66.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.73. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.87 and a one year high of $78.96. The firm has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

W.R. Berkley 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.