W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 47.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,983 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 92,242 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after buying an additional 26,464 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $63.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.60. The stock has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $63.46.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.