Insider Buying: W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Major Shareholder Purchases $1,422,000.00 in Stock

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.10 per share, with a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 56,438,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,012,788,441.60. The trade was a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $59.55 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.19 and its 200-day moving average is $72.10.

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

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WRB. Argus cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. 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 report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $682,816,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,189,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $599,271,000 after buying an additional 289,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $534,438,000 after buying an additional 577,873 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.