W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Major Shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui Acquires 230,000 Shares

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui purchased 230,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $69.19 per share, for a total transaction of $15,913,700.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 52,726,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,648,146,811.76. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $69.21 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $56.86 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.25.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.01%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after purchasing an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $682,816,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,189,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $599,271,000 after buying an additional 289,172 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8.6% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $534,438,000 after buying an additional 577,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WRB. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $68.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.00.

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.