Penserra Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 239.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,276 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,133 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,356 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,527,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 68,376 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Truist Financial upped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $68.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,235,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,331. The company has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.41. 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 52-week low of $51.41 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $72.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.43.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. 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. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

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.