Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC Acquires 20,150 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 48.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,150 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley makes up approximately 1.3% of Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $65,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Evercore ISI upped 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on 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. One equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $57.53 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.88 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its 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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.