W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,040 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,376 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 373.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 4,744 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 351,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,593,000 after buying an additional 20,687 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 835,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $65,656,000 after buying an additional 34,138 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2,212.4% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 3,385 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $60.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.30 and a 200 day moving average of $58.43. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $48.69 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $23.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

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.