Empirical Finance LLC Has $571,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 53.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,065 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,508 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8 %

WRB stock opened at $60.74 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.18. 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 market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.