W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc.

Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $46,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,371,000 after purchasing an additional 39,594 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after purchasing an additional 898,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.16. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $41.37 and a 1-year high of $61.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

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.