Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $7.09 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 31.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,499 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 43,210 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.0% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:WRB opened at $67.91 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $56.86 and a 12 month high of $78.96. 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’s 50 day moving average is $72.23 and its 200 day moving average is $72.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released 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 last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 275,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $68.95 per share, for a total transaction of $18,961,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 51,915,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,579,571,173.85. This trade represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 3,108,875 shares of company stock worth $217,295,222 in the last three months. 23.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 note on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

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.