W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 78.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 646,973 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.39% of W. R. Berkley worth $83,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $137,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 99.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,272 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 842,749 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $66,223,000 after acquiring an additional 33,223 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 123,968 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $9,741,000 after purchasing an additional 15,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

WRB stock traded down $0.39 on Thursday, hitting $60.48. 1,208,355 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,743,706. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. The business's fifty day moving average is $60.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.48. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.28.

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.