W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Stake Raised by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,847,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,344 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.49% of W.R. Berkley worth $135,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 657,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,275,000 after buying an additional 3,696 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at $275,000. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 6,642 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 93.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 226,763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,660,000 after acquiring an additional 109,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3,171.6% in the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 3,566 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.3%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $77.73 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.03.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.85.

About W.R. Berkley

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.