Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada cut its W.R. Berkley stake by 17.2% in the first quarter, selling 270,150 shares and retaining 1.30 million shares worth approximately $86.0 million. Institutional investors collectively owned 68.82% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remained cautious, with three Buy, nine Hold, and six Sell ratings, producing an overall “Reduce” consensus and an average price target of $70.94.
• W.R. Berkley reported quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share, exceeding the $1.08 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $3.72 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share, equivalent to a 0.6% yield.

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 17.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,296,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 270,150 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.35% of W.R. Berkley worth $85,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WRB. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Argus cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:WRB opened at $72.68 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.87 and a one year high of $78.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.49% and a net margin of 12.94%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.21%.

About W.R. Berkley

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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