Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 6,093 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $144,371,000 after acquiring an additional 39,594 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after acquiring an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after purchasing an additional 898,027 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.16. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $41.37 and a 12-month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

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.