Mackenzie Financial Corp Lowers Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,826 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 13,496 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.26 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.81. 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 has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $41.37 and a twelve month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Profile

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.