Caldwell Trust Co Makes New Investment in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 43,161 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $69.27 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $74.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.83. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $26.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.