Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Has $3.51 Million Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 9.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,841 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,728 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,013 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $80.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.85.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.7%

WRB opened at $77.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $55.97 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.30 and a 200-day moving average of $72.92.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.56%.

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.