NorthRock Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 25.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $76.38 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.97 and a twelve month high of $78.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $73.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.79. The company has a market capitalization of $28.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.