HM Payson & Co. Has $938,000 Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,514 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.19 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $44.24 and a one 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 firm has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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 disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. 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.