W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 43.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 335,071 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,889 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC owned about 0.09% of W. R. Berkley worth $19,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $58.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.28. The company’s fifty day moving average is $57.69 and its 200-day moving average is $55.50. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.