W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Short Interest Down 23.9% in October

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,490,000 shares, a decrease of 23.9% from the October 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.74. 2,073,983 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,006,367. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.18. 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) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 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.