Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 42.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 440,273 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 131,059 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.12% of W. R. Berkley worth $25,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position 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 worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
W. R. Berkley Stock Performance
WRB stock traded down $4.76 on Friday, hitting $65.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,853,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,785,628. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $76.38. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.49.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 7.34%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.13.
Read Our Latest Report on W. R. Berkley
W. R. Berkley Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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