AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 599,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,800 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.16% of W. R. Berkley worth $47,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% during 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 buying an additional 898,027 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,915,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,757,000 after acquiring an additional 535,471 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,254,000 after acquiring an additional 313,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $56.51 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.20. The firm has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, equities 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.