W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Baron Wealth Management LLC

Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,379 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,394 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 71.8% during the third quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.7% during the third quarter. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD now owns 130,065 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,379,000 after purchasing an additional 43,189 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $610,000. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.9% during the third quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 9,748 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 3,287 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 911,062 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $51,685,000 after purchasing an additional 303,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $58.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.21. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current 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 issued 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 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.