Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Raises Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,456 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,966 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $357,368,000 after acquiring an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,306,000 after purchasing an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,822,000 after buying an additional 310,313 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of WRB opened at $76.38 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $28.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business posted $1.04 EPS. Equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research 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 company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.69.

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.