Citigroup Inc. Purchases 78,146 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 303,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,146 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $17,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective 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, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $64.94 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.