W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 35.5%, selling 18,327 shares to hold a total of 33,231 shares valued at approximately $2.36 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Baird Financial Group and Mather Group, have either increased or adjusted their holdings in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter, reflecting significant interest from hedge funds.
• The stock recently reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and demonstrating a net margin of 12.32%.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 35.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,231 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 18,327 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 191.1% during the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 847 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 249.2% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC now owns 46,103 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,281,000 after buying an additional 32,902 shares in the last quarter. 7G Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth $7,049,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 179.2% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 41,552 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,957,000 after buying an additional 26,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.21. The stock had a trading volume of 310,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,890,280. 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 moving average is $70.37 and its 200 day moving average is $69.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WRB. UBS Group raised their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

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.