Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. Lowers Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the period. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $61.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.80.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.33%.

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.