5,072 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Bought by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after purchasing an additional 30,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $58.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $65.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.28.

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.