W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,725 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,493 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

WRB opened at $77.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.67. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.43. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.