W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Holdings Lifted by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has significantly increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 63.0%, now owning 161,210 shares valued at approximately $11.47 million.
• The company reported an EPS of $1.05 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.03, while also announcing a quarterly dividend increase from $0.08 to $0.09.
• W.R. Berkley's stock has seen varied price target adjustments by analysts, with reports including a new "strong-buy" rating from Cantor Fitzgerald and a target price increase from $65.00 to $75.00 by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 63.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 161,210 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 62,315 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $11,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 15.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 727,994 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $51,804,000 after buying an additional 99,324 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 56.4% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 44,757 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,185,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $1,637,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the first 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. Finally, ICONIQ Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.4%

W.R. Berkley stock traded up $1.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $73.30. The stock had a trading volume of 245,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,897,666. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.80 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.32. The stock has a market cap of $27.80 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.