Erste Asset Management GmbH Sells 53,939 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Erste Asset Management GmbH lowered its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 41.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 53,939 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 11.5% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 75,461 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,782,000 after purchasing an additional 7,784 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.3% during the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 48,707 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,732,000 after buying an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 66,885 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,125,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 593,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,445,000 after acquiring an additional 11,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of WRB opened at $71.64 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.20. The company has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $60.68 and a twelve month high of $78.96.

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

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 147,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.63 per share, with a total value of $10,529,610.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,522,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,191,950,486.62. The trade was a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders purchased 9,675,686 shares of company stock valued at $669,388,681 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley 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.