Inspire Investing LLC Has $1.14 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 256.0% during the 2nd quarter, owning a total of 15,545 shares valued at $1.14 million.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings report showed a profit of $1.05 EPS, beating analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $3.10 billion.
• W.R. Berkley recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, resulting in a yield of 0.5%.

Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 256.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,545 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,178 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $838,808,000 after buying an additional 65,163 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after buying an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $180,724,000 after buying an additional 52,594 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.5% during the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $131,096,000 after buying an additional 160,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $129,697,000 after buying an additional 25,782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.61 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.43. The stock has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $73.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.63.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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