W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 23.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,904,522 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 550,560 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.78% of W.R. Berkley worth $192,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $344,523,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $71.46 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $62.87 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.67. The company has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Evercore restated an "underperform" rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up from $67.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (up from $71.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $70.94.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation NYSE: WRB is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company's product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.

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