Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Boosts Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 74.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,120 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,712 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WRB opened at $56.71 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.37 and a fifty-two week high of $61.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.88 and its 200 day moving average is $72.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

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.