Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 490 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. decreased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 490 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WRB. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4,514.8% in the fourth quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 1,246 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,219 shares during the period. O Dell Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $191,000. Beacon Financial Group bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 196,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,921,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. Finally, Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $420,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $58.11 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $41.82 and a 1-year high of $61.28. The company has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.89.

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.