W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 3.0%, owning approximately 0.33%, valued at $92.89 million after selling 38,566 shares in Q2.
• Analysts have set new price targets for W.R. Berkley, with estimates ranging between $66.00 and $78.00, reflecting mixed ratings from "buy" to "hold."
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.5%, set to be paid on September 30th.

Confluence Investment Management LLC cut its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,264,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 38,566 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned about 0.33% of W.R. Berkley worth $92,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of WRB stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $73.09. 1,215,853 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,894,084. The stock's 50 day moving average is $70.62 and its 200-day moving average is $70.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $55.80 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $27.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

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.