Lido Advisors LLC Has $2.14 Million Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 53.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,020 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $682,816,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $435,752,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after buying an additional 1,224,363 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,754,383 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $193,137,000 after buying an additional 1,140,349 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,233,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, March 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Argus cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.44.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.6%

NYSE WRB opened at $66.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.73. 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.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

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.