Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Purchases 221,430 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 651,263 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 221,430 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley accounts for about 6.7% of Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. owned 0.17% of W. R. Berkley worth $36,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 57.6% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 8,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 3,173 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.7% in the third quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management now owns 6,744 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,297 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 31.7% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 57,305 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,251,000 after acquiring an additional 13,801 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $600,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 70,087 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,976,000 after acquiring an additional 23,362 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $43.20 and a 52-week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

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.