Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Lowers Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP trimmed its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,182 shares during the quarter. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EULAV Asset Management grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after purchasing an additional 39,716 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 185,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,101,000 after buying an additional 19,408 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,861,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,259,424. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

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.