LGT Financial Advisors LLC Sells 259 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

LGT Financial Advisors LLC cut its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 21.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 930 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. LGT Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 4.2 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.64 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.88 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.79. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.