W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 3.97% of W. R. Berkley worth $857,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 767,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,557,000 after acquiring an additional 255,813 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 105.4% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 16,167 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 52.8% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 238,892 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,552,000 after purchasing an additional 82,542 shares during the period. Finally, Maren Capital LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 52.0% during the third quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 973,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,209,000 after purchasing an additional 333,132 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on 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 upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $62.95 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.29. The company has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley 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.