W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,490,000 shares, a decline of 23.9% from the October 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd 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. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd 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 period. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WRB. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial lifted 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. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE:WRB traded up $1.09 on Friday, hitting $60.74. The stock had a trading volume of 2,073,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,006,367. 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 market cap of $23.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.