Manchester Financial Inc. Sells 11,660 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• Manchester Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 50.1%, selling 11,660 shares and holding 11,626 shares worth $854,000 after the sale.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in W.R. Berkley, with Brighton Jones LLC growing its stake by 75.6%, now owning 50,503 shares valued at $2,955,000.
• W.R. Berkley Corporation has an average rating of "Hold" from analysts, and the current consensus target price for the stock is $73.69.

Manchester Financial Inc. cut its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 50.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,626 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 11,660 shares during the period. Manchester Financial Inc.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $854,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 23.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,442 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,815 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $279,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 60,673 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,316,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of WRB opened at $73.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $55.97 and a one year high of $78.48. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $73.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.83.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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