abrdn plc Purchases 41,893 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 70.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,893 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,304 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $76.65 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $84.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.31. The company has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.63.

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.