W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Aureus Asset Management LLC

Aureus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares during the quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MJP Associates Inc. ADV grew its holdings in 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 valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $63.65 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.02. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

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.