Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 12,616 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,408 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,616 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $8,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 148.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 148.2% during the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Mizuho cut 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 research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $69.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Insider Activity

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. This trade represents a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 7,612,068 shares of company stock valued at $522,913,948. 23.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $71.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $69.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.55 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 12.10%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.09%.

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.