W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 33.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,460 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 46.0% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 933,885 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $52,979,000 after buying an additional 294,243 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.7% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,887 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 3,328 shares during the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 1,564,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $88,776,000 after purchasing an additional 521,630 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 99.3% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WRB shares. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $60.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $23.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.32.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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