GSA Capital Partners LLP Makes New $732,000 Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 12,908 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $732,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,841 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,132 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,845 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $60.83. 1,328,924 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,784,952. The business's 50 day moving average is $58.46 and its 200-day moving average is $56.21. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The company has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.