Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in 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 decreased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,158 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 5,513 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 148,880 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,712,000 after buying an additional 5,222 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,856 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,253 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 9,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 471.7% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 73,297 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 60,476 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 2.3%

NYSE WRB opened at $73.84 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $28.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.44 and a 200-day moving average of $69.80. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.80 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. 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 payout ratio 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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