Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 154,926 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,266,106 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 154,926 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $89,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $172,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,565 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during 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. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after acquiring an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted 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 purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $72.5950 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm 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 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.54.

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.