Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires 33,618 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 43.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 111,337 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 33,618 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $682,816,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $374,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,363 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Brean Capital lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.44.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $66.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.