W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 6.9%, acquiring an additional 3,564 shares for a total of 55,276 shares valued at approximately $4.06 million.
• W.R. Berkley recently lifted its quarterly dividend to $0.09 per share, representing a 0.5% dividend yield with a payout ratio of 8.20%.
• Analysts hold a consensus rating of "Hold" for W.R. Berkley, with a target price of $72.54, while UBS Group has set a price target of $80.00 and rated the stock as "buy."

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,276 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,564 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $4,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 562.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 24,025 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 20,400 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 14,881 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $871,000 after acquiring an additional 3,046 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,058,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $73.42. 2,017,826 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,654,078. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.80 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.42. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $27.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.41.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.