Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Buys 5,830 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 53.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,830 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in 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 during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.42 and a 200 day moving average of $55.96. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.30 and a 52-week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company 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 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS 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 paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.