W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 120.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,172 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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. Finally, PFS Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.2 %

WRB opened at $60.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock's fifty day moving average is $58.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.32. The company has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.75 and a 52 week high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.