25,474 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Acquired by Neo Ivy Capital Management

Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in 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 (SEC). The fund bought 25,474 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,446,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.72 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.57. The company had a trading volume of 600,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,739,033. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.75 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $60.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.