W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Stock Holdings Cut by America First Investment Advisors LLC

America First Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 385,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 27,753 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up approximately 5.6% of America First Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. America First Investment Advisors LLC owned about 0.10% of W.R. Berkley worth $28,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after buying an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. WBI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,016,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.6% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 99,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,334,000 after acquiring an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $792,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.9% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $77.49 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $74.96 and its 200 day moving average is $72.79. The firm has a market cap of $29.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 payout ratio is currently 7.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.85.

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.