Townsquare Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,223 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,402 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Amundi grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $982,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $68.29 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.15. The company has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. 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 $50.73 and a 12 month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.59.

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.