Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Invests $1.90 Million in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 33,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,904,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $63.06 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.60. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $63.46. The company has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

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.