W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Major Shareholder Purchases $16,191,500.00 in Stock

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui bought 235,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $68.90 per share, with a total value of $16,191,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 52,961,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,047,625.60. This represents a 0.45% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $67.85. 3,279,517 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,263,809. The company has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.86 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after buying an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.7% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,382,000 after acquiring an additional 4,336 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.00.

About W.R. Berkley

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.