Prudential PLC Has $3.30 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Prudential PLC cut its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 57,332 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 6.8 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $65.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.56. 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 earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.13.

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.