W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Stake Cut by APG Asset Management N.V.

Key Points

• APG Asset Management N.V. reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 16.4%, now holding approximately 0.15% of the company, equating to $37.3 million.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation recently reported earnings of $1.05 per share, surpassing estimates, and plans to pay a $0.09 quarterly dividend, an increase from the previous $0.08.
• Several institutional investors have recently adjusted their holdings in W.R. Berkley, with notable increases from Principal Financial Group (21.8%) and Bank of America Corp DE (121.1%).

APG Asset Management N.V. lessened its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 16.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 566,295 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 110,855 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. owned 0.15% of W.R. Berkley worth $37,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Maren Capital LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 1,054,420 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $75,033,000 after purchasing an additional 49,225 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,242 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,041 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 15,135 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 4,848 shares in the last quarter. Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Norinchukin Bank The increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 15,697 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock traded down $0.04 on Tuesday, hitting $71.09. 1,854,512 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,834,690. The stock has a market cap of $26.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm's 50-day moving average is $70.54 and its 200 day moving average is $68.93. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.80 and a 52-week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

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.