Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 5,932 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 21.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 33,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,932 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.42.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $71.49 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

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.