Wealth Alliance Sells 226 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wealth Alliance cut its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 226 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WRB. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.52 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $41.37 and a 52-week high of $61.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 presently 8.51%.

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.