Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 9,050 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its investment in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 6.2%, acquiring an additional 9,050 shares, bringing its total ownership to 155,693 shares valued at over $11 million.
• A majority of institutional investors, accounting for 68.82% of the stock, have recently modified their positions in W.R. Berkley, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $72.54 for W.R. Berkley, with one strong buy, ten hold ratings, and one sell rating, alongside recent upgrades from firms like Cantor Fitzgerald and Morgan Stanley.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 155,693 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 9,050 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $11,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock traded down $0.81 on Friday, reaching $70.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,939,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,162,431. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $70.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.80 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on 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 upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

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.