W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 20.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 430,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 74,439 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.11% of W.R. Berkley worth $33,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at $488,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board increases share repurchase authorization to 25 million shares — expands the company’s ability to return capital and supports share demand/earnings per share. W.R. Berkley Increases Repurchase Authorization
• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo (Mitsui) bought large blocks across Jan. 5–7 (totaling hundreds of thousands of shares) — a >10% holder adding to its position signals confidence and provides steady buying. Sumitomo SEC filing
• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target to $76 — another analyst view suggesting upside for investors focused on fundamentals. Keefe Bruyette target raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings scheduled for Jan. 26 (after the close) — a near-term catalyst that could drive volatility in either direction. Earnings date announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore ISI downgraded WRB to “underperform” (PT $69) citing EPS pressure — a high-profile downgrade can trigger short-term selling and cautious positioning. Evercore downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America trimmed its target slightly to $73 from $74 — another modest negative datapoint in analyst coverage. BofA target cut

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wolfe Research started coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.87.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $70.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. 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 1 year low of $55.97 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results 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. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.56%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 265,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $68.50 per share, for a total transaction of $18,152,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 51,445,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,524,014,215.50. This trade represents a 0.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 2,638,875 shares of company stock valued at $184,652,772. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.