Townsend & Associates Inc Reduces Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Townsend & Associates Inc decreased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 21.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 54,906 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc owned 0.05% of W.R. Berkley worth $13,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,306,000 after purchasing an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,822,000 after purchasing an additional 310,313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. 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, October 8th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of 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, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $73.96 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $28.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.61 and its 200 day moving average is $71.86. 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.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.