Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 96,988 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 96,988 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,676,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $83,372,000 after purchasing an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 182.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 26,930 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 25,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $72.47 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $27.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.39.

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.