Parnassus Investments LLC Purchases 350,145 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,134,214 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 350,145 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $64,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at $439,000. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.4% in the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 4,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 88.1% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,177 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 2,893 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 57.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 36,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,091,000 after acquiring an additional 13,385 shares during the period. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.0% during the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,379 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.21. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $45.75 and a one year high of $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.