Insider Buying: W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Major Shareholder Acquires $1,755,000.00 in Stock

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co Mitsui acquired 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.20 per share, with a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 56,418,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,960,589,651.20. This trade represents a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of WRB opened at $70.48 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.05. The company has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.37. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $59.55 and a twelve month high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore set a $69.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Institutional Trading of W.R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W.R. Berkley

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.