W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by Mufg Securities Americas Inc.

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 25.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,642 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 93.7% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 226,763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $16,660,000 after acquiring an additional 109,724 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3,171.6% in the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 3,566 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,457 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,086,028 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $153,260,000 after purchasing an additional 167,677 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 66,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6,256 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $77.56 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The company has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.30 and a 200-day moving average of $72.92.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.85.

W.R. Berkley 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.