West Family Investments Inc. Acquires 1,317 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the second quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 209 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $60.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.94 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $61.96. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.27.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business 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 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of 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 boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.