Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC Has $8.34 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,820 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for approximately 1.2% of Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $8,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 12,540 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 98,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,924,000 after purchasing an additional 9,375 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 9,434 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 77,972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 112,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired 8,648,939 shares of company stock valued at $598,055,212 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Brean Capital lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.88.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $64.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $62.63 and a twelve month high of $78.96.

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 net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio 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.