Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,519,791 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 194,001 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.40% of W. R. Berkley worth $88,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 103,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,582,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,121,968 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $241,218,000 after acquiring an additional 447,797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.59.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE WRB traded up $1.11 on Monday, reaching $69.56. The company had a trading volume of 278,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,025,912. 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 company's fifty day moving average is $63.78 and its 200 day moving average is $61.01. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. 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.