W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 55.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,808 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stance Capital LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% in the third quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 38,013 shares in the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $2,801,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $1,630,000. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 105.4% during the 4th quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 29,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,082,000 after purchasing an additional 15,240 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 118,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,336,000 after purchasing an additional 18,820 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $71.29 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.26. The firm has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date 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%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.