W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 79.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 139,463 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.7% in the 2nd 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 period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 2.1% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 325,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.03 per share, with a total value of $22,109,750.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 52,496,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,571,337,167.12. This represents a 0.62% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 4,454,916 shares of company stock valued at $309,561,870. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial set a $84.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, November 7th. Evercore ISI set a $69.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $73.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $67.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a PE 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.17.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 7.56%.

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.