Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Sells 14,566 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 19th, 2023

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,905 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 14,566 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.6% in the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 1,487 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 73.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after buying an additional 7,615 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 120.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 6,614 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.9% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 4,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $57.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $56.04 and a twelve month high of $76.99.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 17.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 8th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 10.28%.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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W.R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the property casualty insurance business. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment includes excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia, Asia, and Australia.