Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 84,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $213,635,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,371,000 after buying an additional 39,594 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,933,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,749,000 after buying an additional 138,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after purchasing an additional 898,027 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $58.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $41.37 and a 12-month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.