Virtu Financial LLC Sells 3,884 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Virtu Financial LLC lowered its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,904 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,884 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd 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 period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $58.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.70. The firm has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

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.