Citigroup Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 80.8% during Q1, acquiring an additional 218,598 shares and valuing its holdings at approximately $34.8 million.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported an EPS of $1.05, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.03, with revenue matching estimates at $3.10 billion.
• The company declared a $0.09 quarterly dividend, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.08 per share, currently yielding 0.5% with a payout ratio of 8.20%.

Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 80.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 489,090 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 218,598 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.13% of W.R. Berkley worth $34,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $172,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after acquiring an additional 900,071 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $47,812,000 after buying an additional 664,266 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE WRB traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.42. 1,803,700 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,250,142. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.80 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $70.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (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 last year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. 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 business 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 an increase 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.