BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $51.80 Million Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 15.8%, acquiring a total of 727,994 shares valued at approximately $51.8 million.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported an EPS of $1.05, exceeding analysts' expectations, and generated $3.10 billion in revenue for the quarter.
• The company announced a dividend increase, raising its quarterly payment from $0.08 to $0.09, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.5%.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 727,994 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 99,324 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.19% of W.R. Berkley worth $51,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,812,000 after purchasing an additional 664,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $44,210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. UBS Group increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $72.72. The company had a trading volume of 707,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,900,296. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $70.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.80 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The firm has a market cap of $27.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

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.