Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,194,745 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 75.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,021,233 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,194,745 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $57,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $59.65 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.44 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.