Prudential PLC Sells 57,332 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Prudential PLC cut its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,418 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 57,332 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Amundi boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during 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 last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 72.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,248 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,574,000 after purchasing an additional 41,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 16,167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.59.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.1 %

WRB traded up $1.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.53. 2,574,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,805,574. The stock's 50-day moving average is $63.78 and its 200 day moving average is $60.98. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $76.38. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.