W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Key Points

• Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 13.9% in Q4 to 1,099,746 shares (about $77.1M), representing ~3.0% of Cornerstone's portfolio and making WRB its 15th largest holding.
• W.R. Berkley beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $1.30 versus $1.13 expected and revenue of $3.69B versus $3.18B, with a return on equity of 18.99% and a net margin of 12.64%.
• Significant insider activity: Sumitomo purchased 112,176 shares at $72.20, insiders bought roughly 3.78M shares (~$264.2M) last quarter, and insiders now own about 23% of the company.

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,099,746 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 133,804 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for approximately 3.0% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC owned 0.29% of W.R. Berkley worth $77,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position 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 valued at $15,496,000 after acquiring an additional 16,450 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 242,546 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 18,022 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,762,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC raised its position 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 valued at $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 38,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $66.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $63.67 and a 12 month high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.99% and a net margin of 12.64%.The business's revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Brean Capital cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Argus reduced their price target on W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded W.R. Berkley from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 112,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. The trade was a 0.19% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased 3,780,946 shares of company stock valued at $264,244,958 over the last quarter. Insiders own 23.00% of the company's stock.

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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