B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,080 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,926 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Prudential PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,245,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,875,000 after acquiring an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 174,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,716,000 after acquiring an additional 55,942 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.47 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.47. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.28. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.67.

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.