Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Purchases 25,385 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 26.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 121,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,385 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE WRB opened at $59.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.39 and a 200-day moving average of $55.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $44.88 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.