W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,709 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 25,385 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $92,757,000 after acquiring an additional 535,471 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 58.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $75,645,000 after purchasing an additional 490,669 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.1% in the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 987,823 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $56,039,000 after purchasing an additional 316,269 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $42,254,000 after purchasing an additional 313,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkley W R Corp acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,138,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.55. 940,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,793,035. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $44.88 and a twelve month high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley 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.