Tobam Sells 45,975 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Tobam decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 61.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 45,975 shares during the period. Tobam’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $71.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,439,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 56,576,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,072,953,177.48. The trade was a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased 7,750,064 shares of company stock worth $532,603,787 over the last three months. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $69.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $69.60 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. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.55 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $26.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $69.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.16.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.09%.

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.