Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 5,513 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 28% during the first quarter, bringing its holdings to $1.01 million worth of stock.
• Several hedge funds increased their positions in W.R. Berkley, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting its holdings by 75.6% in the fourth quarter.
• The company's stock is currently rated as "Hold" by analysts, with an average price target of $72.54.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,158 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 5,513 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $52,980,000 after acquiring an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,210,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 22.4% during 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 worth $145,545,000 after acquiring an additional 455,311 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of WRB traded up $1.41 on Wednesday, reaching $72.83. The stock had a trading volume of 240,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,889,301. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.07. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.80 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its 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. 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors 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 yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

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.