W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by First Hawaiian Bank

by · The Markets Daily

First Hawaiian Bank cut its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) by 14.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,191 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 9,324 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 23,237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of WRB opened at $73.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $55.80 and a one year high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.80.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.54.

Read Our Latest Analysis on WRB

W.R. Berkley Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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