Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Grows Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.2% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 174,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,716,000 after acquiring an additional 55,942 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.9% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 126,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,976,000 after buying an additional 29,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 39.1% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 1,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.45 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.37 and a 52 week high of $61.28.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.