AlphaCore Capital LLC Takes Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFS Partners LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $62.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.40. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $62.54. The company has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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 0.51%. 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 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.