Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,790,374 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,726 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.73% of W.R. Berkley worth $195,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.3% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.3% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Brean Capital cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.31.
W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9%
W.R. Berkley stock opened at $68.15 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.60 and a 200 day moving average of $68.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.
W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.
W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.
About W.R. Berkley
W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.
The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.
Featured Articles
- Five stocks we like better than W.R. Berkley
- SpaceX Rings the Bell and Shatters Every Record
- Adobe Stock Just Got Cheaper—Is Wall Street Missing the Story?
- 3 Dividend Stocks Under $50 That Pay You to Wait Out Inflation
- The 127-Gigawatt Problem: Why AI Needs Its Own Power
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WRB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for W.R. Berkley Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for W.R. Berkley and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
