Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Trims Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group reduced its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 8.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 148.2% in the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. UBS Group set a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.77.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $75.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.10.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.56%.

W.R. Berkley Profile

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.