First Hawaiian Bank Sells 9,324 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• First Hawaiian Bank reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 14.9%, now holding 53,191 shares valued at approximately $3.78 million.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.03, contributing to a return on equity of 18.83%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09, which will be distributed on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.5%.

First Hawaiian Bank trimmed its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 14.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,191 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 9,324 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after acquiring an additional 900,071 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $55,306,000 after acquiring an additional 759,122 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $47,812,000 after acquiring an additional 664,266 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $1.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.68. The stock had a trading volume of 543,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,890,861. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $70.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.07. The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.57, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $55.80 and a 12 month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during 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 company posted $1.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.54.

About W.R. Berkley

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.