MML Investors Services LLC Raises Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,674 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,446,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $89,691,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $70.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $51.13 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid 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 yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

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.