Tobam Acquires 52,939 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Tobam grew its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 135.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 92,024 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 52,939 shares during the period. Tobam’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth about $82,706,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,757,000 after buying an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,254,000 after buying an additional 313,234 shares during the last quarter. Berkley W R Corp purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,138,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $18,482,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.79.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $57.84. 475,454 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,759,528. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.47. The company has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its 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 net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.