W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has reduced its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 8.6%, selling 389,679 shares during the first quarter, and currently holds approximately 1.10% of the company valued at $296,263,000.
• The recent quarterly earnings report indicated that W.R. Berkley achieved $1.05 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.03, with revenues totaling $3.10 billion.
• W.R. Berkley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, resulting in an annual yield of 0.5%.

Invesco Ltd. cut its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,163,337 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 389,679 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.10% of W.R. Berkley worth $296,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.75. 3,939,336 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,152,673. 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 market cap of $26.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $70.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.