Financial Strategies Group Inc. Purchases 40,007 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 53.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,964 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,007 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley accounts for 1.4% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on 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. 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 research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $59.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.88 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.82.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley 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.