W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 0.3%, retaining 36,336,103 shares valued at approximately $2.59 billion.
• The firm increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, reflecting a positive change in its annualized yield to 0.5%.
• W.R. Berkley reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.03.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,336,103 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 100,370 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.58% of W.R. Berkley worth $2,585,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after acquiring an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after acquiring an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,553,016 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $266,442,000 after acquiring an additional 231,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,279,690 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $191,927,000 after acquiring an additional 560,370 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast 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 disclosed 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 positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WRB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.