denkapparat Operations GmbH Invests $204,000 in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,776 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,808,000 after buying an additional 65,163 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $180,724,000 after acquiring an additional 52,594 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 9.5% during the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $131,096,000 after acquiring an additional 160,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,697,000 after purchasing an additional 25,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 18.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,746,000 after purchasing an additional 240,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $76.63 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $55.97 and a one year high of $78.48. The stock has a market cap of $29.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $74.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.62.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.