Erste Asset Management GmbH Reduces Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Erste Asset Management GmbH reduced its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 13.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 112,394 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 16,979 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $72.5950 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.57. The stock has a market cap of $27.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.80 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.54.

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.