Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Trims Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lessened its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,818 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 33,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 5,932 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.7% in the first quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 18,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $697,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,104 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.5% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 76,635 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,453,000 after buying an additional 14,089 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $71.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.82 and a 200 day moving average of $66.04.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.42.

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.