Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 234.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,609 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted 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 valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,121,968 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $241,218,000 after buying an additional 447,797 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $71.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.15. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.