W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2,212.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 14,639 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 249.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 386,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,364,000 after buying an additional 276,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after buying an additional 46,125 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $57.81 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $57.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.