Xponance Inc. Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Xponance Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.6% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,946,000 after purchasing an additional 302,212 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 14.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $358,039,000 after purchasing an additional 699,297 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,001,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $127,097,000 after purchasing an additional 98,500 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,748,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,019,000 after acquiring an additional 62,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 5.2 %

WRB stock opened at $79.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $55.50 and a one year high of $89.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.88.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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.