WR Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Position lifted by Achmea Investment Management BV

Achmea Investment Management BV grew its position in shares of WR Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) by 15.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,508 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management BV’s holdings in WR Berkley were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in WR Berkley by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of WR Berkley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WR Berkley by 12.7% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in WR Berkley by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC grew its position in WR Berkley by 1.0% in the first quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,258,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the shares are currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WR Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. WR Berkley Co. has a one year low of $41.37 and a one year high of $61.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

WR Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. WR Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue increased by 10.6% year-on-year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WR Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WR Berkley announces dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.32 and a dividend yield of 0.55%. WR Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

The Wall Street analyst weighs in

WRB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of WR Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Goldman Sachs Group downgraded WR Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a report on Thursday, June 13th . TD Cowen began coverage on shares of WR Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of WR Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of WR Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, the 23rd July. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.67, according to MarketBeat.com.

Check out the latest stock analysis on WRB

WR Berkley Company Profile

(Free Report)

WR Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance and Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines and specialty personal lines.

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