Candriam S.C.A. Lowers Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Candriam S.C.A. trimmed its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 36.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $344,523,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 target price (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $69.94.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $69.91 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 current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $68.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.47%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.