Nordea Investment Management AB Trims Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Nordea Investment Management AB lowered its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 67.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 55,253 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 148.2% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.67.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $74.93 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $78.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $73.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.56%.

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.