W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Holdings Cut by Mission Wealth Management LP

Mission Wealth Management LP cut its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 7,679 shares during the quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.4% during the second quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $617,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in 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. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 15,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down previously from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lowered W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho lowered their price target on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $69.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 370,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. The trade was a 0.68% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired a total of 7,612,068 shares of company stock valued at $522,913,948 over the last quarter. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current 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. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.55 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The firm has a market cap of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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