Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 60,429 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,428,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in 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 bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $62.04. 991,360 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,745,833. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.38. 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 company has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.