Bank of New York Mellon Corp Takes Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon initiated a position in W.R. Berkley, purchasing 1.35 million shares valued at approximately $95 million, representing about 0.36% of the insurer.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has a consensus “Reduce” rating from MarketBeat, with an average price target of $70.94, despite Truist raising its target to $83 and maintaining a buy rating.
• W.R. Berkley beat quarterly expectations with earnings of $1.27 per share versus $1.08 expected and revenue of $3.72 billion. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share, yielding approximately 0.6%.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,347,506 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $95,040,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.36% of W.R. Berkley as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 140.0% during the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 360 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $67.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Mizuho boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $62.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $69.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $25.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31, a PEG ratio of 3.13 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.92.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 12.94%.The company's revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.21%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.

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