Hilltop Holdings Inc. Acquires New Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,060 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,801,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $65,233,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $1,630,000. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 105.4% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 29,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,082,000 after purchasing an additional 15,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 634,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,125 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $75.77 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.87 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $28.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.47.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.