Polar Capital Holdings Plc Cuts Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Polar Capital Holdings Plc cut its stake in W.R. Berkley by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 305,000 shares and ending with 2.445 million shares valued at about $171.4 million.
• W.R. Berkley reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.30 versus the $1.13 estimate and revenue of $3.69 billion versus $3.18 billion expected. Revenue rose 1.3% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share from $0.09, while analysts currently have a cautious view overall with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

Polar Capital Holdings Plc lessened its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,445,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 305,000 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned about 0.64% of W.R. Berkley worth $171,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,419,000 after buying an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. 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 $68.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.87 and a one year high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $25.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. W.R. Berkley's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $68.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Argus cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation NYSE: WRB is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company's product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.

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