Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui Purchases 25,000 Shares of W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.20 per share, with a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 56,418,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,960,589,651.20. The trade was a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.6%

WRB opened at $71.28 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $59.55 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.03. The company has a market cap of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37.

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

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the first 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 period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after buying an additional 2,407 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% 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.