McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC Acquires 2,911 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

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

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4 %

WRB opened at $61.26 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.60. The company has a market capitalization of $23.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.64.

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.