BIP Wealth LLC Acquires 1,412 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

BIP Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 49.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,412 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after buying an additional 26,464 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.19 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $58.49 and a 200-day moving average of $56.27. The company has a market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of 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. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of 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 increased their price target on 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.