W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,972,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 377,742 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $263,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,801,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,630,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 118,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,336,000 after acquiring an additional 18,820 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 105.4% during the fourth quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 29,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 15,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $65,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:WRB opened at $72.41 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.49% and a net margin of 12.94%.The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Brean Capital cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $70.44.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

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.