Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes $7.72 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 131,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,723,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after buying an additional 47,515 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.1% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 136,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,768,000 after purchasing an additional 44,384 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 16,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 16,167 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $64.27 on Tuesday. 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 $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.