Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires 55,942 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 174,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,942 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $13,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Evermay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.82. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $41.37 and a 12 month high of $61.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

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.