Forsta AP Fonden Buys 6,700 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 124,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,118,000 after acquiring an additional 16,352 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 576,071 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,324,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at $772,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 303.8% during the 2nd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 137,678 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,115,000 after buying an additional 103,579 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.7% in the second quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE WRB opened at $76.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.70. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

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.