W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,216 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after acquiring an additional 92,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $60.25 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.03. The firm has a market cap of $22.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.30 and a 1 year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.