Applied Capital LLC FL Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Applied Capital LLC FL raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,512 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,605 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley makes up approximately 1.3% of Applied Capital LLC FL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the 2nd 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.31.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.93 and a 200-day moving average of $55.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.51%.

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.