Corient Private Wealth LLC Sells 364,391 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Corient Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley by 72.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 364,391 shares and leaving it with 136,335 shares worth about $9.57 million.
• W.R. Berkley posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.30 versus the $1.13 consensus and revenue of $3.69 billion versus expectations of $3.18 billion.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share from $0.09, and the stock was trading around $70.12, up 1.7% on the day.

Corient Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 72.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,335 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 364,391 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $9,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered W.R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised W.R. Berkley from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $70.12 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $62.87 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $66.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.W.R. Berkley's revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.47%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation NYSE: WRB is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company's product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.

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