W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.96% of W. R. Berkley worth $208,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd 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. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.57. The company had a trading volume of 4,458,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,749,694. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $60.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.70.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.28.

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.