Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 3,384 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,606 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,384 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth about $44,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.89.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $58.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $41.82 and a 1-year high of $61.28.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.