W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $838,808,000 after buying an additional 65,163 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $180,724,000 after purchasing an additional 52,594 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $131,096,000 after purchasing an additional 160,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,697,000 after buying an additional 25,782 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE WRB opened at $73.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.83. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.48. The company has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.