W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Position Lessened by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 36.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 301,409 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 171,401 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of W.R. Berkley worth $23,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 112,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 9,933,862 shares of company stock valued at $688,134,108 in the last three months. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 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 decreased their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Argus reduced their target price on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $68.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $25.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $60.68 and a twelve month high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.