Tribune Investment Group LP Makes New Investment in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Tribune Investment Group LP has acquired 30,000 shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation for approximately $2.1 million, marking a notable investment in the insurance company.
• Several institutional investors, including Bank of America and Principal Financial Group, have significantly increased their stakes in W.R. Berkley, indicating strong interest from the investment community.
• W.R. Berkley has recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, reflecting positive financial performance and a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Tribune Investment Group LP bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,135,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,013 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WRB stock traded down $0.4150 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.0950. The company had a trading volume of 1,423,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,868,507. The company's fifty day moving average is $70.61 and its 200 day moving average is $68.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $55.80 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.