Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $147,000 Investment in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $147,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $795,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732,333 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,697,989 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $113,069,000 after purchasing an additional 968,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,112,557 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $140,675,000 after purchasing an additional 704,176 shares during the last quarter. 71.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $74.29 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $73.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.87. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $53.34 and a 12-month high of $76.99. The firm has a market cap of $19.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.19. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 12th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.87.

About W. R. Berkley

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W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.