Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 70,910 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 875.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 79,006 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70,910 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.48 and a 200 day moving average of $68.34.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.47%.

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.