Entropy Technologies LP Acquires Shares of 18,871 W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,871 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised 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 period. PFS Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE WRB traded down $0.59 on Thursday, hitting $59.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,291,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,783,570. The company's 50-day moving average is $58.41 and its 200 day moving average is $56.06. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $45.44 and a 1-year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued 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 yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

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.