W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $77.61 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $78.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.67.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

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.