Board of the Pension Protection Fund Buys 11,700 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Board of the Pension Protection Fund raised its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 92.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,700 shares during the period. W.R. Berkley comprises about 1.6% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $682,816,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,601,230 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after buying an additional 1,224,363 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.5% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,711,425 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $284,350,000 after buying an additional 657,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target 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. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 112,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 9,525,512 shares of company stock valued at $659,778,305. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $66.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.98. The company has a market capitalization of $24.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.35. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.63 and a 52-week high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.09%.

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.