Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 52.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 238,892 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 82,542 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $13,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $62.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.29. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced 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 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.
Several brokerages have commented on WRB. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.28.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WRB
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.
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