Highland Capital Management LLC Has $1.41 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,887 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 427.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $790,947,000 after buying an additional 8,831,553 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $795,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $199,140,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $88.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.43. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $88.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.11.

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.