Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,553,016 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 231,545 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.19% of W. R. Berkley worth $266,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after acquiring an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $272,582,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,121,968 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $241,218,000 after buying an additional 447,797 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.3 %
Shares of NYSE:WRB traded down $0.93 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.41. 790,011 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,802,452. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The business's fifty day moving average is $63.95 and its 200-day moving average is $61.10.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.
W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.59.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on WRB
About W. R. Berkley
(
Free Report)
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.
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