Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Cuts Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lessened its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,097 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,800 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $367,921,000. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,306,000 after acquiring an additional 759,122 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,715,583,000 after purchasing an additional 625,685 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $44,210,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in 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. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $78.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.09.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid 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 7.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.