W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 33.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,460 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second 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 period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $60.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $61.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its 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. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders 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 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.