Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD Sells 1,470 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 129,907 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,470 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up about 3.2% of Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $9,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,306,000 after acquiring an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $44,210,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 60.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 826,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,822,000 after purchasing an additional 310,313 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 18.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,746,000 after purchasing an additional 240,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1,997.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 234,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $17,209,000 after buying an additional 223,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $76.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $74.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.60. 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 has a market capitalization of $29.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. BMO Capital Markets cut 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 report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.46.

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.