Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Increases Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 12.7% in Q1, owning a total of 229,989 shares worth approximately $16.37 million.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, exceeding expectations and showing a net margin of 12.32%.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, resulting in an annual yield of 0.5%.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,989 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 25,986 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of W.R. Berkley worth $16,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $5,676,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $663,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.2% in the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 247,919 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $17,642,000 after acquiring an additional 7,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 43,248 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,159 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 $70.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.31.

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 (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

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.

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