W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Sold by Aurdan Capital Management LLC

Aurdan Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 44.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,689 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 15,769 shares during the quarter. Aurdan Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,601,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,715,583,000 after buying an additional 625,685 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 valued at $534,438,000 after buying an additional 577,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,617,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $71.28 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.55 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $69.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.03. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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 was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. Bank of America cut their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on 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. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 370,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. The trade was a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders purchased 7,612,068 shares of company stock valued at $522,913,948 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley 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.