Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 104.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,735,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 885,417 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $121,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 22.3% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 10,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 target price (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of WRB opened at $72.09 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.87 and a one year high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.22.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.47%.

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.