BloombergSen Inc. Cuts Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Key Points

• BloombergSen Inc. reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 1.7%, selling 13,141 shares, and now holds 749,258 shares valued at $53.3 million, representing 3.3% of its portfolio.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in W.R. Berkley, with Assetmark Inc. raising its stake by 39.6% during the first quarter.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, reflecting positive performance with an earnings report that topped analysts' expectations.

BloombergSen Inc. lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 749,258 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 13,141 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up about 3.3% of BloombergSen Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. BloombergSen Inc. owned about 0.20% of W.R. Berkley worth $53,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,676,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,787,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $663,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $68.95. 1,370,163 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,356,825. The company's 50-day moving average is $71.84 and its 200-day moving average is $67.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $52.64 and a 52-week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. 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. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.