Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Trims Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 13,001 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 148.2% in the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $78.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $80.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, November 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.