Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 54.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 212,800 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,122 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of W.R. Berkley worth $16,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 965,942 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $74,010,000 after buying an additional 207,060 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.1% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 32,264 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $620,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 658,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 23,935 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of 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, Barclays reissued 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $71.72 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.55 and a 1 year high of $78.96. 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 $69.07 and a 200 day moving average of $72.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 24,030 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.59 per share, for a total transaction of $1,696,277.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 56,556,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,992,334,064.68. The trade was a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired 7,730,064 shares of company stock valued at $531,163,987 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

More W.R. Berkley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sumitomo Insurance increased its WRB stake with multiple purchases (roughly 98k shares across filings, ~ $6.8M at reported prices), nudging ownership above 56.5M shares — insider buying at these levels is a bullish signal for investor sentiment. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the Bank of America Financial Services Conference; the transcript offers detail on underwriting, reserves and capital deployment — useful for assessing forward outlook but not an immediate catalyst by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS maintained a Hold rating on WRB, signaling analysts are not yet upgrading despite insider buying — this may limit analyst-driven upside in the near term. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent media pieces are re‑examining WRB’s valuation after a strong multi‑year run, which can increase short‑term volatility as investors debate upside vs. current multiples and consensus earnings growth. Read More. Read More.

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.