Norinchukin Bank The Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Norinchukin Bank The grew its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Ossiam grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 23,790 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,392,000 after buying an additional 4,128 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $641,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,119,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $182,544,000 after purchasing an additional 76,349 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 645.9% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 4,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 4,095 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE WRB opened at $67.35 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.59.

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.