Alamar Capital Management LLC Sells 17,981 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Alamar Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 17,981 shares during the period. Alamar Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after acquiring an additional 625,685 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $682,816,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,189,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $599,271,000 after purchasing an additional 289,172 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 valued at $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. The trade was a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 9,933,862 shares of company stock valued at $688,134,108 over the last 90 days. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $69.93 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $60.68 and a twelve month high of $78.96. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $69.70 and its 200 day moving average is $72.22. The company has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.35.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. Argus dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

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.