W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Holdings Lifted by Wallington Asset Management LLC

Wallington Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 406,789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,016 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up approximately 4.2% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $29,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,306,000 after purchasing an additional 759,122 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,822,000 after purchasing an additional 310,313 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $76.87 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $72.18 and its 200-day moving average is $71.11. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.97 and a 12-month high of $77.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $29.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly 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. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on WRB shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays lifted 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

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.