McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 41.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,928 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,911 shares during the quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $291,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,479 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,436 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $8,098,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $61.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.82 and a fifty-two week high of $61.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.16 and a 200 day moving average of $55.52.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.64.

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.