W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Short Interest Down 28.3% in April

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) saw a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,280,000 shares, a decrease of 28.3% from the March 31st total of 5,970,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $71.26 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $83,372,000 after buying an additional 646,973 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,590 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $88,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $1,709,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $98,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.