Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 72.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,320 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after acquiring an additional 30,833 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $60.78 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.40 and a 200-day moving average of $57.48. The company has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.