Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $208,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WRB. State Street Corp boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $58.03 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

W. R. Berkley 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.