W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 738,051 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $43,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $1,062,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 179,414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,499,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410 shares during the last quarter. Elm3 Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,960,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,498 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $60.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.84.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

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.