Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 944 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,852 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 7.5% during the second quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 14,759 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 148.2% during the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.3% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 109,379 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,036,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $553,000. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $2,503,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $77.61 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.06 and a 200-day moving average of $71.67. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.97 and a 1 year high of $78.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group set a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

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.