Inspire Investing LLC Purchases 11,178 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 256.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,178 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.97 and a 1 year high of $78.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.