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

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 20,892 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the second quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Bank of America increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

WRB opened at $64.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.41 and a 200 day moving average of $56.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

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.