W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Credit Agricole S A

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 26.8%, holding a total of 134,951 shares valued at approximately $9.60 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Multiple large investors have acquired shares of W.R. Berkley, leading to institutional ownership comprising 68.82% of the stock.
• W.R. Berkley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, representing a yield of 0.5% and an annualized dividend payout of $0.36.

Credit Agricole S A raised its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 26.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 134,951 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 28,559 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $9,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $5,676,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $663,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.2% during the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 247,919 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $17,642,000 after acquiring an additional 7,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 43,248 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WRB. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $0.4150 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.0950. The company had a trading volume of 1,423,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,871,182. The stock has a market cap of $27.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.39. 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's 50 day simple moving average is $70.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.85.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. 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%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.