W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,630,000 shares, an increase of 20.4% from the February 13th total of 7,170,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $63.92. 59,770 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,646,622. The company has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.87. 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 quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.