W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Silver Oak Securities Incorporated

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1,618.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,078 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,259 shares during the quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Vicus Capital acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth $246,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 62,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,265,000 after acquiring an additional 9,762 shares during the period. Applied Capital LLC FL boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 19,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 264,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $23,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.16 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.37 and its 200-day moving average is $55.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $43.20 and a 12-month high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.