Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Boosts Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 59.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 311,018 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 116,225 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $20,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,419,000 after buying an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $72.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.22.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen raised W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.31.

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.