W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,020,000 shares, a decrease of 12.7% from the August 31st total of 8,040,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.4 %

WRB opened at $56.51 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.11. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $41.37 and a fifty-two week high of $61.28. The company has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.2% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 12,482 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $981,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,801,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 21,217 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $564,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.4% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 811,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,795,000 after buying an additional 26,738 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.