Aigen Investment Management LP Sells 4,409 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 41.4%, owning $444,000 worth of shares as of its latest SEC filing.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, surpassing expectations, with a revenue of $3.10 billion.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, reflecting a positive change in shareholder returns.

Aigen Investment Management LP reduced its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 41.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,243 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,409 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,420 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,015,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $70.75. The company had a trading volume of 3,939,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,152,673. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $70.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.31. The company has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.80 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. Analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Cowen lowered shares of 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 lowered their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

About W.R. Berkley

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.