Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires New Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during 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. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE WRB opened at $58.57 on Friday. 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 $60.54 and a 200-day moving average of $57.73. The company has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

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.