Creative Planning Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Creative Planning grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,973 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,539 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $4,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $4,801,000. Prudential PLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after acquiring an additional 46,125 shares in the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $3,245,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,875,000 after acquiring an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 174,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,716,000 after acquiring an additional 55,942 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $59.32 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $43.20 and a twelve month high of $61.96.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.