W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,922 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MJP Associates Inc. ADV grew its stake in 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 worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $64.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.73. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. 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.