OP Asset Management Ltd Buys Shares of 30,853 W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 30,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 valued at $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $682,816,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $435,752,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.32 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 presently 8.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

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.