Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 31.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,150 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.6% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 96,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,395 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,450 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $553,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,161,000 after buying an additional 4,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Trust bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $1,847,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of WRB opened at $67.85 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $56.86 and a 12-month high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Mizuho set a $69.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $68.18 per share, for a total transaction of $20,454,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 53,261,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,631,369,342.72. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 4,454,916 shares of company stock worth $309,561,870. Insiders own 23.30% 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.