Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $154.39 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 26.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,201,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 466,501 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $154,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Brean Capital lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on W.R. Berkley from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Argus cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $68.81.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $68.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $25.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.86. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

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.