Avestar Capital LLC Buys 1,444 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,444 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9 %

WRB opened at $64.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.12 and a 200 day moving average of $56.73.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

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.