Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Has $8.35 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,716 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 13,708 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WRB. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased 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 buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their target price 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, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.1 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.69 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.05 and a 200-day moving average of $58.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

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.