AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 240,557 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 18.5%, acquiring 240,557 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total to 1,542,249 shares worth approximately $109.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors have also made investments in W.R. Berkley, resulting in institutional ownership rising to 68.82%.
• The company's quarterly dividend has been increased from $0.08 to $0.09, representing an annualized yield of 0.5%.

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 18.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,542,249 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 240,557 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.41% of W.R. Berkley worth $109,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $172,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $357,368,000 after buying an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,812,000 after buying an additional 664,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,210,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,436,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,897,126. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.47, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.69. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. 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%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.