Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 42,834 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,746,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,834 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.46% of W. R. Berkley worth $99,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC increased its position 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. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at $62,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $64.33 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $45.75 and a 52 week high of $64.46.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 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.