Empirical Asset Management LLC Has $831,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 140.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,558 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.89.

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.