AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Takes $9.34 Million Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 127,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,340,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 148.4% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $75.19 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.24. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its 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. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.46.

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.