AGF Management Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 37.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,132 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,129 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,918,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $213,635,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,371,000 after purchasing an additional 39,594 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,933,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,749,000 after purchasing an additional 138,276 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $134,690,000 after buying an additional 898,027 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $57.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $41.37 and a 12-month high of $61.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $57.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.39.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

W. R. Berkley 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.