UBS Group AG Buys 906,100 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 34.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,505,867 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 906,100 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $245,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in 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 last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $682,816,000. 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 purchasing an additional 242,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $374,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,363 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 112,176 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have bought 3,122,015 shares of company stock worth $219,761,133. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $67.05 on Wednesday. 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 one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $78.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Brean Capital cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on W.R. Berkley from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.81.

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.