Quantbot Technologies LP Purchases 10,585 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 120.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,585 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 79,550 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,655,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 41,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after buying an additional 2,674 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.6%

WRB stock opened at $72.0950 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.74. The company has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.80 and a 12 month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.