Citizens National Bank Trust Department Has $1.66 Million Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Citizens National Bank Trust Department lowered its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 3.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,306,000 after buying an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after buying an additional 734,474 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,822,000 after buying an additional 310,313 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $77.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $72.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $77.95.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.54.

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.