Centiva Capital LP Makes New $1.92 Million Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 33,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,917,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 128.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,507,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,535,000 after purchasing an additional 846,331 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,031,786 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $115,263,000 after purchasing an additional 559,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EULAV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 1,564,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $88,776,000 after purchasing an additional 521,630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $63.65 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

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.