W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Ingalls & Snyder LLC

Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,811 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,597 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $63.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.09.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley 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.