The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Grows Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $235,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd 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. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $63.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. 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 twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $63.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

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.