Renaissance Technologies LLC Grows Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 79.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 130,047 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 57,700 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $449,168,000 after acquiring an additional 103,350 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $272,582,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,553,016 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $266,442,000 after purchasing an additional 231,545 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.90.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.42 on Wednesday, reaching $71.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,495,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,800,318. The company has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current 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's fifty day simple moving average is $64.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

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.