Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $1.71 Million Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC has reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 15.7%, selling 4,491 shares and now holding 24,041 shares worth approximately $1.71 million.
• W.R. Berkley reported a quarterly EPS of $1.05, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.03, with revenue matching expectations at $3.10 billion.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, resulting in a current yield of 0.5%.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 15.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,041 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,491 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,212 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 79.8% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 130,047 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,610,000 after acquiring an additional 57,700 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 45,223 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,646,000 after acquiring an additional 7,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $387,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:WRB traded up $1.41 on Wednesday, reaching $71.42. 1,803,700 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,250,142. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.39. The company's 50 day moving average is $70.81 and its 200-day moving average is $68.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 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.