Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 7,314.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the period. W.R. Berkley accounts for about 2.6% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.20% of W.R. Berkley worth $52,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $272,582,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $98,446,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 121.1% in 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. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in 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. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $47,812,000 after acquiring an additional 664,266 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $69.07. 3,123,112 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,794,099. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.76 and a 200 day moving average of $66.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.41 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. On average, research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.35%.

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.