W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Raised by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 1.4%, owning approximately 1,822,617 shares valued at $129.7 million as of the end of the most recent quarter.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported earnings of $1.05 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, with a revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.09, reflecting a yield of 0.5% and a payout ratio of 8.20%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 25,782 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of W.R. Berkley worth $129,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $70.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm's 50-day moving average is $70.96 and its 200-day moving average is $68.11. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.80 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $26.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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