W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by Eagle Ridge Investment Management

Eagle Ridge Investment Management raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,744 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,297 shares during the period. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,757,000 after buying an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 58.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $75,645,000 after acquiring an additional 490,669 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,254,000 after acquiring an additional 313,234 shares during the last quarter. Berkley W R Corp purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,138,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $18,482,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.32 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $43.20 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The company has a market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.