Waverly Advisors LLC Has $480,000 Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Waverly Advisors cut its W.R. Berkley stake by 89.1% in the second quarter, selling 55,907 shares and retaining 6,808 shares valued at approximately $480,000.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $70.83; ratings include three Buys, nine Holds, and six Sells.
• W.R. Berkley exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.27 in EPS and $3.72 billion in revenue, while declaring a $0.10 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 0.6% annualized yield.

Waverly Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 89.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 55,907 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $3,542,919,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $435,752,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,972,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $263,326,000 after acquiring an additional 377,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,768,180 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $249,757,000 after acquiring an additional 129,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,790,374 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $195,661,000 after acquiring an additional 26,726 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $62.00 target price (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, June 12th. Wolfe Research cut W.R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W.R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $70.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $70.83.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $69.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $62.87 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.74. The company has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.28.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.21%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W.R. Berkley Corporation NYSE: WRB is an insurance holding company that operates through a group of property and casualty insurance businesses. The company provides commercial insurance and reinsurance products for businesses, organizations and other insurance companies, with an emphasis on specialty and complex risks.

Its offerings include commercial property and casualty coverage, excess and surplus lines, professional liability, workers' compensation, commercial automobile insurance, marine insurance and other specialty products.

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