Truist Financial Corp Purchases 55,838 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,525,169 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 55,838 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.40% of W.R. Berkley worth $108,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 1st 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 grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th 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. CHB Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC now owns 50,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,598,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,842 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.73 on Friday, hitting $71.49. 1,422,342 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,776,916. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.41 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $72.82 and a 200 day moving average of $66.10.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.42.

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.