Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 11,400 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 47.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,400 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth approximately $682,816,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $435,752,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $69.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.07. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $62.87 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Weiss Ratings cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.