Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 864 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Freedom Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,394 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 864 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,382,000 after acquiring an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 70.8% in the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 7,131 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $323,000. Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $3,493,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $2,386,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:WRB opened at $75.01 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.02 and a 200 day moving average of $72.15. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 7.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented 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 on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.77.

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.