W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,329 shares during the quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $65,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $57.50 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.69. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $44.67 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

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.