W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Bought by Stance Capital LLC

Key Points

• Stance Capital LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% in Q3 to 48,119 shares (worth $3.69M), amid broad institutional buying that leaves institutions owning about 68.82% of the company.
• Sumitomo Insurance bought 112,176 shares at $72.20 ($8.10M) and now holds 58.78M shares; insiders collectively own 23% of the stock and purchased roughly 9.93M shares (~$688.1M) in the past 90 days.
• W.R. Berkley has a $25.76B market cap and a P/E of 15.46, reported Q EPS of $1.13 (missing by $0.01), pays a $0.36 annual dividend (0.5% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of Hold with an average target of $69.67.

Stance Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 376.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,119 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,013 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley comprises about 1.4% of Stance Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Stance Capital LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,715,583,000 after acquiring an additional 625,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $682,816,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 worth $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 bought at an average cost of $72.20 per share, for a total transaction of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 9,933,862 shares of company stock worth $688,134,108 over the last ninety days. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $68.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.76 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.35. 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 $69.44 and a 200-day moving average of $72.06. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $62.63 and a one year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group set a $71.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America lowered their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Four equities research 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, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley 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.

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