Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC Raises Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 30.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,056 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,605 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for approximately 1.1% of Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after acquiring an additional 625,685 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,189,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $599,271,000 after purchasing an additional 289,172 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $367,921,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Argus dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore set a $69.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $69.60 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.16. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.55 and a 52-week high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.09%.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,439,800.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 56,576,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,072,953,177.48. This trade represents a 0.04% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders acquired 7,750,064 shares of company stock valued at $532,603,787 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.