W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by State of Wyoming

Key Points

• The State of Wyoming increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 87.6% in the first quarter, now holding $819,000 worth of the company's shares.
• W.R. Berkley reported quarterly earnings of $1.05 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $3.10 billion for the period.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, which represents an annualized dividend yield of 0.5%, reflecting a slight increase from the previous dividend.

State of Wyoming lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 87.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,509 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,373 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $838,808,000 after purchasing an additional 65,163 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,279,690 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $191,927,000 after purchasing an additional 560,370 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $172,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,487,097 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $145,545,000 after acquiring an additional 455,311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of WRB traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $71.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,383,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,697,447. The company has a market capitalization of $27.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41. 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 one year low of $55.80 and a one year high of $76.38. The company's fifty day moving average price is $70.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.20.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.