Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 236 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 12.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 236 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $57.45 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.09. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio 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.