Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Trims Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,202 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 148.4% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Key W.R. Berkley News

Here are the key news stories impacting W.R. Berkley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo/Mitsui bought roughly 204k shares (several trades Dec. 18–22) at ~$69–70 per share, spending about $42M and increasing its stake by ~0.4% — a vote of confidence from a large, strategic holder that likely helped push WRB higher today. Mitsui Sumitomo buys Berkley (WRB) shares worth $42.5 million
• Neutral Sentiment: Company recently declared a small quarterly dividend ($0.09; $0.36 annualized, ~0.5% yield) with a Dec. 29 payment date — income-focused but not a material catalyst given the low yield. This is consistent with a capital-return policy that emphasizes buybacks/underwriting strength. W.R. Berkley stock — MarketBeat
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst coverage is mixed: consensus rating is essentially “Hold” with an average price target near $73.93 (several holds/neutral ratings and a range of targets). That tempers upside expectations despite insider buying and recent earnings beats. Analyst ratings and targets — MarketBeat

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 204,350 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.38 per share, for a total transaction of $14,177,803.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 48,805,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,386,155,978.44. This represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 610,350 shares of company stock valued at $42,548,323 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $70.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.65 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 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 12-month low of $55.97 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.62.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. 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 presently 7.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. 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 research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.93.

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.