Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Purchases 37,950 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 46.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 119,050 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,950 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 346 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 4.2 %

NYSE WRB opened at $60.64 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.38 and a 200-day moving average of $55.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $44.88 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.