Swedbank AB Has $881,000 Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,376 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,390 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 148,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,712,000 after acquiring an additional 5,222 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $580,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 75,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,426,000 after acquiring an additional 5,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,773,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,799,000 after acquiring an additional 96,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $71.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.07. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.