Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Has $74.01 Million Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 27.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 965,942 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 207,060 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up 3.1% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $74,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,189,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $599,271,000 after acquiring an additional 289,172 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $534,438,000 after acquiring an additional 577,873 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $367,921,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 24,030 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $70.59 per share, for a total transaction of $1,696,277.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 56,556,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,992,334,064.68. This represents a 0.04% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 7,730,064 shares of company stock worth $531,163,987. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore set a $69.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Argus decreased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $71.55 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $59.55 and a one year high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $69.05 and a 200-day moving average of $72.11. 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 announced its quarterly 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 18.35% 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.09%.

W.R. Berkley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance increased its stake with three purchases (Feb. 9, 10 and 11) totaling about 97,996 shares (~$6.83M at the reported prices), nudging its ownership above 56.5M shares. Insider buying at these levels is a strong bullish signal for sentiment and supports the recent price rise. SEC Filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the Bank of America Financial Services Conference; the transcript provides detail on strategy, underwriting, and reserve positioning that investors can use to judge forward outlook. Review the transcript for management commentary. Bank of America Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Management also presented at UBS’s Financial Services Conference; that transcript offers additional color on capital deployment and loss-cost trends — useful but not market-moving by itself. UBS Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS maintained a Hold rating on WRB, which suggests analysts are not yet ready to turn bullish despite insider buying — this may limit near-term analyst-driven upside. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent media pieces are re‑examining WRB’s valuation after a strong multi‑year run, prompting debate about upside vs. current multiples and expected earnings growth — these discussions can increase volatility as investors reassess valuation. Is It Time To Reassess Valuation Look

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.