W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Eagle Ridge Investment Management

Eagle Ridge Investment Management increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,744 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,297 shares during the period. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its holdings 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 valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised 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 worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,436 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,612 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $59.32 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $43.20 and a 1 year high of $61.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley 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.