JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.93% of W. R. Berkley worth $417,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in 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. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $233,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 182.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 26,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company 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 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $58.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.74 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

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.