W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Tidal Investments LLC

Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 150.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,849 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,329 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $59.73. 1,305,888 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,740,362. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $60.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.