Swiss National Bank Sells 43,000 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

by · The Cerbat Gem

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRBFree Report) by 4.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 874,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 43,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $67,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,450 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the third 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. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 133.5% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,520 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 18,022 shares during the period. American Trust purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $1,847,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $3,762,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 112,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $72.20 per share, for a total transaction of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,243,948,490. The trade was a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have bought 9,933,862 shares of company stock valued at $688,134,108 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $67.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $25.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.35. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $60.68 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.54 and a 200-day moving average of $72.13.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRBGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current 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 given 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 is currently 8.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. 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 assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.67.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on WRB

About W.R. Berkley

(Free Report)

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.

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