W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Lessened by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank lowered its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,515 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,755 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WRB traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.10. 1,224,947 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,524,302. The company has a market cap of $22.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $47.59 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.25.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Barclays cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.82.

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.