EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 65,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,729,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. 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 research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $62.95 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.31. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. 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 company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

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.