W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 732,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,291 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.19% of W.R. Berkley worth $52,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $272,582,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $98,446,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $172,609,000 after buying an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $89,691,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $47,812,000 after acquiring an additional 664,266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $72.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.81 and a 200-day moving average of $65.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.41 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. On average, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.42.

About W.R. Berkley

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