Advisors Capital Management LLC Takes $567,000 Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at approximately $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $188,174,000 after buying an additional 2,601,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,715,583,000 after buying an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 worth $534,438,000 after buying an additional 577,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,617,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 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, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. The trade was a 0.68% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 8,822,032 shares of company stock valued at $608,511,512. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $71.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $60.20 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given 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 is Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

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.