W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Position Increased by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 110,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 849 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.6% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $432,946,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,735,000 after purchasing an additional 154,468 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,001,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,097,000 after purchasing an additional 98,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,748,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,019,000 after purchasing an additional 62,917 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $1.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $78.90. The stock had a trading volume of 906,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,264,927. The business’s fifty day moving average is $83.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.60. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

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.