Fox Run Management L.L.C. Decreases Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Fox Run Management L.L.C. has significantly reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 71.3%, owning now 7,477 shares after selling 18,582 shares in the first quarter.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation's shares currently have a consensus rating of "Hold" among analysts, with target prices ranging between $65.00 and $78.00.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.09, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.5%, up from the previous $0.08 per share.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. trimmed its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 71.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,477 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 18,582 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 101.3% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 191,538 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $13,630,000 after buying an additional 96,408 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 155,693 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,079,000 after purchasing an additional 9,050 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 63.0% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 20,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 572,671 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $40,751,000 after buying an additional 13,934 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 13.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 534,465 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $38,035,000 after buying an additional 63,220 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. UBS Group increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.4%

WRB stock traded up $1.0350 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.5950. 1,281,951 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,994,146. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $70.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.57. The stock has a market cap of $27.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $55.80 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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