CIBC Asset Management Inc Acquires 35,531 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 75.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 82,407 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,531 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $682,816,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,363 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $68.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.87 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.86.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Argus cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $68.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.81.

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.