Gallacher Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased 4,392 shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation, valued at approximately $323,000, marking a new position for the firm in the 2nd quarter.
• W.R. Berkley recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.5%, with an ex-dividend date set for September 22nd.
• Multiple analysts have updated their ratings on W.R. Berkley, with Barclays setting a target price of $66.00 while Morgan Stanley increased its target to $75.00, reflecting varying investor sentiment.

Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $323,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $838,808,000 after buying an additional 65,163 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $180,724,000 after purchasing an additional 52,594 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,487,097 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $145,545,000 after buying an additional 455,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $131,096,000 after buying an additional 160,017 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on 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

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $72.80 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.80 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $70.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.06.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

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.

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