W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Stock: International Assets Investment Management LLC Raises Position

International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 187.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,032 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,972,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $263,326,000 after purchasing an additional 377,742 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,768,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $249,757,000 after buying an additional 129,801 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 23.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,904,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $192,512,000 after buying an additional 550,560 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $105,639,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $95,040,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $70.56.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $75.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.23. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.31.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The insurance provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.63% and a net margin of 12.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.46%.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W.R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that operates through a group of specialized insurance businesses. The company primarily provides commercial property and casualty insurance, serving businesses, organizations and other commercial customers with coverage tailored to specific industries and risks.

Its products and services include workers’ compensation, commercial automobile, property, general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, excess and surplus lines, and other specialty insurance products.