Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases 29,201 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 29.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,201 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $9,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 89.2% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Maren Capital LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,915,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 190.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 313,234 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $56.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.16. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays started 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of 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. TD Cowen started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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.