Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,649 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,216 shares during the quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 58.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $75,645,000 after acquiring an additional 490,669 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.6% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 1,363,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,340,000 after acquiring an additional 439,853 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.1% in the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 987,823 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $56,039,000 after acquiring an additional 316,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkley W R Corp purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,138,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $60.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.15. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.