W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,278 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $71.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $71.17 and its 200-day moving average is $64.80.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

About W. R. Berkley

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.