JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 5.6%, owning approximately 6.7 million shares valued at $476.5 million after selling 396,910 shares in Q1.
• A number of institutional investors, including Bank of America and Principal Financial Group, significantly increased their stakes in W.R. Berkley during recent quarters.
• W.R. Berkley announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.5% and a payout ratio of 8.20%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,696,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 396,910 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.77% of W.R. Berkley worth $476,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $172,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $47,812,000 after purchasing an additional 664,266 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.03 on Tuesday. 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 $26.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.39. The business's 50-day moving average price is $70.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.11. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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 report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

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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