W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Holdings Boosted by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 104.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,735,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 885,417 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $121,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,542,919,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $682,816,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $435,752,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 35,572.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,219,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $155,660,000 after buying an additional 2,213,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after buying an additional 1,224,363 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $68.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $67.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $62.87 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $66.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.13. The company has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

W.R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.