OLD National Bancorp IN Purchases 8,459 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 259.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,717 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,459 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised 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 valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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, 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 acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $61.03 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.24 and its 200 day moving average is $55.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 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 paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio 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.