Intech Investment Management LLC Trims Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,006 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 24,413 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $9,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the third quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 20,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,583,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.7% during the third quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 8,080 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $619,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 264.0% in the third quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 14,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 10,703 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,186 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 89,375 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,848,000 after acquiring an additional 13,041 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 370,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. The trade was a 0.68% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired 9,375,686 shares of company stock worth $647,893,561 over the last three months. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore set a $69.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. 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 results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 12.10%.The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

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.