Capital Fund Management S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Capital Fund Management S.A. reduced its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 13.2%, owning 111,060 shares valued at approximately $7.9 million after selling 16,861 shares in Q1.
• There was significant activity among institutional investors, with Bank of America increasing its stake by 121.1% and Cornerstone Investment Partners boosting its position by 7,314% during the same period.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation raised its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, resulting in an annualized dividend of $0.36 and a yield of 0.5%.

Capital Fund Management S.A. reduced its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 13.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 111,060 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 16,861 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 664,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $72.4920 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.80 and a 12 month high of $76.38. 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 $27.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company's fifty day moving average price is $70.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.66.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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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