Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $27.58 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 471,245 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.12% of W. R. Berkley worth $27,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 16,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $988,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,519,791 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $88,938,000 after purchasing an additional 194,001 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,723,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,869,705 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $167,935,000 after acquiring an additional 104,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $1,340,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.59.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $1.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $69.56. 278,585 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,025,912. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.01. The stock has a market cap of $26.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. 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 (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. 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.