AlphaCentric Advisors LLC Acquires 520 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 44.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $96,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after buying an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.2 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $44.88 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The company has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

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.