Zacks Investment Management Takes $18.95 Million Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 334,079 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,952,000. Zacks Investment Management owned approximately 0.09% of W. R. Berkley at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $62.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.29. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced 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 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.28.

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.