Manning & Napier Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 132,282 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 10,434 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $9,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. CHB Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC now owns 50,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,598,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.
W.R. Berkley Price Performance
NYSE:WRB traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $73.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,642,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,766,240. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $72.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $51.41 and a one year high of $76.38.
W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.
W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.35%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
WRB has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.64.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on W.R. Berkley
W.R. Berkley Profile
(
Free Report)
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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