New Vernon Investment Management LLC Has $3.49 Million Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

New Vernon Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,470 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,490 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley makes up about 3.8% of New Vernon Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. New Vernon Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised 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. PFS Partners LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on WRB shares. UBS Group upped 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3 %

WRB traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.43. 83,517 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,753,605. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.02. The company has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given 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%.

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.