Andra AP fonden Has $8.12 Million Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Andra AP fonden lessened its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 30.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 45,600 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $8,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during 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. lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 40.2% in the third 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 period. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $40,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. 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. UBS Group set a $71.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting W.R. Berkley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo/Mitsui made several purchases this week (multiple filings show buys of 153,000 and 147,000 shares at roughly $71.6–$71.7 per share), signaling increased insider/institutional conviction; the recent disclosed buys total roughly $21M across filings. InsiderTrades Alert
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple news outlets and SEC filings confirm the purchases and show Mitsui Sumitomo increasing a very large base position — buying by a >10% owner is often interpreted by the market as a stabilizing/positive signal for the stock. Investing.com Article
• Neutral Sentiment: W.R. Berkley recently declared a small quarterly dividend ($0.09/share; $0.36 annualized, ~0.5% yield) with a low payout ratio — likely supportive but not a major catalyst given the small yield. Yahoo Finance
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst actions remain mixed-to-cautious: several firms have trimmed price targets and TD Cowen notably cut WRB to a sell with a much lower $55 target — these downgrades cap upside and may keep some traders sidelined. The company also posted a small quarterly EPS miss in late January. MarketBeat Coverage

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE WRB opened at $71.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.22. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $60.68 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 18.35% and a net margin of 12.10%.W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 147,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.63 per share, for a total transaction of $10,529,610.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 58,522,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,191,950,486.62. This represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 9,675,686 shares of company stock valued at $669,388,681. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.