Bellevue Asset Management LLC Acquires 4,513 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Bellevue Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,513 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley makes up 0.4% of Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.02 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.40 and a 200 day moving average of $55.66. The company has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $44.24 and a 12-month high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial boosted 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 decreased their target price 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, Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.