Swiss National Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 644,175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 26,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $45,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $78.71 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $83.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.06. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.38.

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.