Swiss National Bank Has $48.05 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 724,962 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 106,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $48,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $344,523,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $72.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $68.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $70.44.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.