W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co cut its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,396 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 163 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 25.1% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 5,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 77,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,696,000 after acquiring an additional 6,834 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.1% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,088 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 58.2% in the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 69,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,135,000 after acquiring an additional 25,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 144.3% in the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 28,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,119,000 after acquiring an additional 17,033 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $77.40 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $29.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $73.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.71.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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.