The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $280.16 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 1.26% of W. R. Berkley worth $280,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $560,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded down $0.49 during trading on Thursday, reaching $71.20. The stock had a trading volume of 1,581,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,768,389. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 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.