Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 5,847 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 99.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,847 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $64.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $64.46.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.