W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Madison Asset Management LLC

Madison Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,831,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 22,788 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up about 1.5% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Madison Asset Management LLC owned about 0.48% of W.R. Berkley worth $140,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $188,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,601,230 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after purchasing an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.6% during the 2nd 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, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,617,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $71.10 per share, with a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 56,438,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,012,788,441.60. This represents a 0.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders bought a total of 7,632,068 shares of company stock valued at $524,335,948 over the last 90 days. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore set a $69.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $69.99 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $59.55 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.05 and a 200-day moving average of $72.11.

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

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend 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.