Candriam S.C.A. Sells 9,521 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Candriam S.C.A. cut its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 36.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 9,521 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Argus cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $69.94.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $69.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $62.87 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $26.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.32.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend 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 payout ratio is currently 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.