Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,074 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $59.19 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.27 and a 200-day moving average of $58.61. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.10 and a 12-month high of $65.49.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

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.