Brandes Investment Partners LP Raises Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 18.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 699,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 109,864 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $54,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $56.51 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.11. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $41.37 and a one year high of $61.28. The stock has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 (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 business had revenue of $3.31 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued 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 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company 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.