Monument Capital Management Acquires New Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Monument Capital Management acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,769 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,306,000 after buying an additional 759,122 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,822,000 after buying an additional 310,313 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WRB. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $77.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.97 and a 12-month high of $78.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.59.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

W.R. Berkley 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.