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

Inspire Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $2,715,583,000 after acquiring an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. WBI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,016,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in 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 worth $7,334,000 after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $792,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 12.9% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.97 and a 12 month high of $78.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.85.

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.