Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Acquires 600 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $144,371,000 after acquiring an additional 39,594 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after acquiring an additional 898,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

WRB stock opened at $57.45 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.76 and a 200 day moving average of $73.00. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $41.37 and a twelve month high of $61.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.