MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $4.43 Million Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,050 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,090 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $4,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying 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 buying an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $64.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released 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 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 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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 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 dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.