Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

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

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,132,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 440,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,790,733. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $23.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $44.88 and a one year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.