W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,104 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third 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 period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $59.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.39. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week 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.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 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 Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

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.