Toronto Dominion Bank Lowers Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Toronto Dominion Bank lowered its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,834 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 21,674 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $7,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 14,933 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 14,639 shares in the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,245,000. Finally, Prudential PLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after acquiring an additional 46,125 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $56.51 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.99 and a 200 day moving average of $72.20. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

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.