Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 57.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 775,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 284,494 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $43,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFS Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $60.74 on Monday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.18. The company has a market capitalization of $23.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given 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 payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.