Atria Investments Inc Boosts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 49.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,574 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 30,833 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $595,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 201.3% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,963 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 23,358 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $201,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 17.1% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 47,900 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,236,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.0% in the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,152 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,055,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,788,041. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.30 and a 1-year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 firm's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded 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 price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.