iA Global Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 56.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,432 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,497 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 128.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,507,757 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,535,000 after buying an additional 846,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $62.04. 991,360 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,745,833. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $60.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

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.