BloombergSen Inc. Sells 9,064 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• BloombergSen Inc. reduced its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 1.2%, selling 9,064 shares, and now holds approximately 740,194 shares total.
• W.R. Berkley reported $1.05 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.03, while achieving a revenue of $3.10 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09, with a dividend yield of 0.5% and a payout ratio of 8.20%.

BloombergSen Inc. decreased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 740,194 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 9,064 shares during the period. W.R. Berkley comprises approximately 3.3% of BloombergSen Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. BloombergSen Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of W.R. Berkley worth $54,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $75.44 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $76.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.42. The company's fifty day moving average is $71.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.94.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company posted $1.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WRB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.