Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Reduces Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lowered its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,897 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $6,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $449,168,000 after buying an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $357,368,000 after buying an additional 900,071 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $272,582,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. UBS Group lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $68.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.41. 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 12-month low of $52.64 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.26.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.