W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $335,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,336 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 249.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 386,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,364,000 after acquiring an additional 276,242 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after acquiring an additional 14,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 8,332 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $56.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $41.37 and a 12 month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

W. R. Berkley 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.