Dean Investment Associates LLC Acquires 16,085 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Dean Investment Associates LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 51,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,085 shares during the quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.7% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,061 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 2,797 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $18,952,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 25,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 8,295 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $62.95 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on WRB. 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

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.