50,526,511 Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Acquired by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 50,526,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,542,919,000. W.R. Berkley accounts for about 100.0% of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.13% of W.R. Berkley at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $682,816,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $374,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,363 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $71.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $68.30 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.87 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $66.69 and a 200-day moving average of $68.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

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.