Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Purchases New Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 12,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maridea Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.3% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.3% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 5,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 370,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. This represents a 0.68% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders acquired 9,933,862 shares of company stock worth $688,134,108 in the last 90 days. 23.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $67.85 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $60.68 and a 1-year high of $78.96. The firm has a market cap of $25.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.13. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.17%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.