UMB Bank n.a. Boosts Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.7% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.8% in the first quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.89.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.57 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $41.82 and a one year high of $61.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.50.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders 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 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.39%.

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.