BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 265.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,276 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,467 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EULAV Asset Management boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $60,015,000 after buying an additional 39,716 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after acquiring an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WRB opened at $80.09 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.04. The company has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WRB shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.38.

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.