W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 978 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after buying an additional 625,685 shares in the last quarter. WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,016,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 99,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,334,000 after acquiring an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $792,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.9% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $77.49 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $80.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.85.

About W.R. Berkley

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.