W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,908 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 265 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,306,000 after buying an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 60.1% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,822,000 after buying an additional 310,313 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $78.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $73.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.59.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.