Nykredit A S Purchases New Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Nykredit A S bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 78,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,526,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 22.3% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 10,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,962 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $67.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price target (up from $71.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $69.13 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.79. The company has a market capitalization of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.28.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About W.R. Berkley

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.