Comerica Bank Acquires 16,535 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,623 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,535 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,631 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.3 %

WRB traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.47. 1,105,631 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,764,083. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.32 and a 200 day moving average of $62.59. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $51.17 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 7.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.39.

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.