Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 143,317 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stock position in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 17.1% during the first quarter, acquiring 143,317 additional shares for a total of approximately $69.7 million worth of stock.
• Brokerage firms have raised their target prices for W.R. Berkley, with UBS Group increasing its target price from $78 to $80, while Barclays set a lower target of $66 with an "underweight" rating.
• W.R. Berkley recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.09 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.52%, with a payout ratio of 8.20%.

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 979,280 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 143,317 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.26% of W.R. Berkley worth $69,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,676,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,787,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $663,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.43 on Friday, reaching $69.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,236,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,286,907. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $53.65 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.39. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $71.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.44.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.