W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Boston Partners

Boston Partners increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 63.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,929 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners' holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $70.75 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's 50-day moving average is $70.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.44. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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 paid 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised 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 sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average 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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