Trust Investment Advisors Acquires Shares of 2,894 W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Trust Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,894 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,306,000 after purchasing an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $44,210,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,822,000 after purchasing an additional 310,313 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $75.19 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.97 and a 12-month high of $78.48. The stock has a market cap of $28.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.24. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

W.R. Berkley 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.