Oak Thistle LLC Purchases 4,944 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Oak Thistle LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 130.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,725 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,944 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,137,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,165,234. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $48.69 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67. The business's fifty day moving average price is $60.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.43.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.74.

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.