Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys 12,383 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 49.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,368 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,383 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $682,816,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $188,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601,230 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,363 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.5% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,711,425 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $284,350,000 after purchasing an additional 657,558 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth approximately $35,879,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. This trade represents a 0.68% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 7,976,205 shares of company stock valued at $550,898,409 over the last 90 days. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $66.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.83, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.37. 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 1 year low of $62.63 and a 1 year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group set a $71.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.25.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

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.