Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Purchases New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $58.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Bank of America upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.28.

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.