Advisors Capital Management LLC Makes New $567,000 Investment in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maridea Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% during the second quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.4% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore set a $69.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Mizuho dropped 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 research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America dropped 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. This represents a 0.68% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 8,822,032 shares of company stock worth $608,511,512 over the last three months. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE WRB opened at $71.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.16. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $60.20 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

W.R. Berkley 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.