Teza Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Teza Capital Management LLC significantly increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 139.8% during the first quarter, owning 9,284 shares worth approximately $661,000.
• Analysts have set new price targets for W.R. Berkley, with Barclays raising their target from $62 to $66, while UBS increased theirs from $78 to $80, reflecting growing confidence in the company's performance.
• W.R. Berkley recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.09 per share, up from $0.08, highlighting its strong financial position with an 8.20% dividend payout ratio.

Teza Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 139.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,284 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,413 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during 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 during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,676,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $663,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.2% during the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 247,919 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $17,642,000 after acquiring an additional 7,702 shares during the period. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at about $2,135,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $71.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.80 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The stock's 50 day moving average is $70.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.55. The company has a market capitalization of $27.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.

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