LRI Investments LLC Increases Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,016 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. 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. PFS Partners LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $62.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.19 and a 200 day moving average of $57.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $65.49.

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 analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

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.