921,372 Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Acquired by PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab

Key Points

• PFA Pension bought a new position of 921,372 shares in W.R. Berkley, valued at about $65.23 million, representing roughly 0.24% of the company.
• W.R. Berkley beat expectations in its most recent quarter with $1.30 EPS vs. a $1.13 estimate and revenue of $3.69 billion vs. $3.18 billion, reporting a net margin of 12.64% and ROE of 18.99%.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed-to-negative with an average rating of "Reduce", a consensus target price of $68.81, and a breakdown of 2 Buy, 13 Hold and 3 Sell ratings.

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 921,372 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $65,233,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab owned approximately 0.24% of W.R. Berkley at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 16,450 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $401,607,000 after buying an additional 242,546 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake 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 worth $2,415,000 after buying an additional 18,022 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $3,762,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% during the third quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,687,000 after buying an additional 38,013 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Evercore reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W.R. Berkley from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $68.81.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $66.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.66 and a 200-day moving average of $70.24. The company has a market cap of $24.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.33. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.99%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 345,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $24,374,250.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 57,508,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,062,942,884.70. The trade was a 0.60% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased 2,637,015 shares of company stock valued at $186,673,233 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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