JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 2,616,227 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.93% of W. R. Berkley worth $417,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second 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. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.97. The company had a trading volume of 824,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,738,730. The company has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $46.74 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.01.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.