W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 7.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 35,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,407 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 9,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 4,998 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $840,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,984,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 14.0% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,638 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $855,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.36. The stock has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.97 and a 1 year high of $77.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.54.

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.