W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Sees Large Volume Increase

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 1,747,570 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the previous session’s volume of 1,727,024 shares.The stock last traded at $58.83 and had previously closed at $58.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $22.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.45.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 14,639 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 249.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 386,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,364,000 after buying an additional 276,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after buying an additional 46,125 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.