Quantbot Technologies LP Buys New Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,892 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $64.55 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.90. 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 $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.