Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $12.02 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 16.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 211,839 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,635 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $12,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 62,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,558,000 after purchasing an additional 19,753 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,904,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 59,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after acquiring an additional 22,095 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 18,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 5,983 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.0 %

WRB stock opened at $64.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.75 and a 52 week high of $64.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WRB. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

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.