Bank of Montreal Can Has $16.04 Million Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 21.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 218,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 60,917 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.06% of W.R. Berkley worth $16,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,808,000 after acquiring an additional 65,163 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $180,724,000 after purchasing an additional 52,594 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $131,096,000 after purchasing an additional 160,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,697,000 after purchasing an additional 25,782 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,746,000 after purchasing an additional 240,557 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE WRB opened at $74.94 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $74.34 and its 200-day moving average is $72.51. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $55.97 and a one year high of $78.48.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.