Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 38.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 169,325 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 104,690 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $11,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,254 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7.6% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,618 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 55.7% in the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 33,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 11,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 59.7% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 311,018 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,614,000 after buying an additional 116,225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE WRB traded up $1.94 on Tuesday, hitting $72.86. 140,662 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,214,459. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.87 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.23.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.50.

W.R. Berkley 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.