Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,194,745 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 75.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,021,233 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 3,194,745 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of W. R. Berkley worth $57,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $60.57. The company had a trading volume of 880,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,781,490. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $58.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. W. R. Berkley's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.