New York Life Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 181 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 612.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,904,000 after buying an additional 865,205 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 213.9% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $72,884,000 after acquiring an additional 782,280 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $358,039,000 after acquiring an additional 699,297 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $20,205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of 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. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.06. The company has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.