TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Trims Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,836 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $69.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.77. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 12.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $70.94.

About W.R. Berkley

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.