DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Cuts Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 84,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 278 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $68.83 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.41 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $72.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.