Carmel Capital Partners LLC Has $351,000 Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Bank of America increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $44.88 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.85.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.