Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 70,910 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 875.9% in Q1, buying 70,910 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 79,006 shares worth about $5.24 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their positions, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 68.82% of W.R. Berkley’s shares.
• W.R. Berkley recently beat earnings expectations with Q1 EPS of $1.30 versus $1.13 expected, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share from $0.09.

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 875.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,006 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 70,910 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position 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 valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $68.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $70.00.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $71.79 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $68.48 and a 200 day moving average of $68.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $62.87 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.47%.

W.R. Berkley 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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