JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after buying an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after buying an additional 26,464 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $57.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.62. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $58.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.69. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.67 and a 1-year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.