W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,031,786 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 559,043 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $115,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after acquiring an additional 30,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 60,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 20,250 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WRB opened at $64.55 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

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.