W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Position Trimmed by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 2.2%, now holding approximately 3,050,425 shares valued at $217 million.
• W.R. Berkley recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.09 per share, up from $0.08, representing an annual yield of 0.5%.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.03, with revenue matching expectations at $3.10 billion.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,050,425 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 68,897 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.80% of W.R. Berkley worth $217,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $70.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.52. The company has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.80 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company 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 business posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.54.

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.

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