Berkley W R Corp Invests $21.14 Million in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Berkley W R Corp bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 269,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,138,000. W. R. Berkley comprises about 0.9% of Berkley W R Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Berkley W R Corp owned approximately 0.07% of W. R. Berkley as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 14,639 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.82. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $41.37 and a 1-year high of $61.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company 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.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

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.