W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Tobam

Tobam lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 3.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 74,415 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for 2.1% of Tobam’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Tobam’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,161,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 6.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after purchasing an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.9% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 100,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,750 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 70.8% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 7,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. BMO Capital Markets cut W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $76.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $74.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.60. The company has a market capitalization of $29.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.56%.

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.