Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 7.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,407 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.3% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,382,000 after buying an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 70.8% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after buying an additional 7,131 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $323,000. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $3,493,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $77.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.42. 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 $77.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $72.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.36.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for 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 prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.