Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 49.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 37,368 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,383 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $682,816,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $401,607,000 after buying an additional 242,546 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 33.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $374,886,000 after buying an additional 1,224,363 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,220,936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $323,408,000 after buying an additional 262,187 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped 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 report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 54,959,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 through this link. Insiders have purchased a total of 7,976,205 shares of company stock worth $550,898,409 over the last three months. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $66.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.79 and its 200 day moving average is $71.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.83, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. 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 issued its 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 company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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