Private Advisor Group LLC Increases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,956 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of WRB opened at $57.19 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.24 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on 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. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.