W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Allstate Corp

Key Points

• Allstate Corp increased its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 47.1% during the first quarter, acquiring a total of 15,135 shares valued at approximately $1,077,000.
• W.R. Berkley recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09 per share, with a current yield of 0.5% and a payout ratio of 8.20%.
• Equities analysts generally maintain a Hold rating on W.R. Berkley, with a consensus target price of $72.54, though several firms have adjusted their price targets recently.

Allstate Corp lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 47.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,135 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,848 shares during the quarter. Allstate Corp's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 121.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $172,609,000 after buying an additional 1,615,565 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the 1st 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. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $52,980,000 after acquiring an additional 734,474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,812,000 after purchasing an additional 664,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded up $0.34 on Friday, reaching $71.58. 558,111 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,908,547. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.39. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $70.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.02.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley 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.