United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Buys Shares of 3,900 W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• United Super Pty Ltd has acquired 3,900 shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation, valued at approximately $278,000, as part of its investment strategy in the 1st quarter.
• Analyst ratings for W.R. Berkley show a mix of 1 sell, 10 holds, and 2 buy ratings, with price targets ranging from $57 to $80.
• W.R. Berkley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, resulting in a yield of 0.5% and reflecting its strong financial health with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,900 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 19,131 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $207,000. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 27.1% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 4,560 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 17.1% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 979,280 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $69,686,000 after buying an additional 143,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2,129.9% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 18,196 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,295,000 after buying an additional 17,380 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $69.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $53.65 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $71.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 19.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. 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.

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