W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lowered its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,548 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 187 shares during the quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 191.1% during the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 847 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $76.97. The firm has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly 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. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.