Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $1.17 Million Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,852 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 944 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded 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 report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $77.61 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.06 and a 200-day moving average of $71.67. The stock has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.