Danske Bank A S Buys New Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 468,269 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,879,000. Danske Bank A S owned 0.12% of W.R. Berkley at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after acquiring an additional 625,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $682,816,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 8.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. UBS Group set a $71.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $67.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.17 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $69.41 and its 200 day moving average is $72.02. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $62.63 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. 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 (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). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were 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 was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 112,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. The trade was a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders purchased 9,729,512 shares of company stock valued at $673,956,305 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.