W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 593,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,312 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of W.R. Berkley worth $45,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after buying an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,067 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.63 per share, for a total transaction of $10,529,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 58,522,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,191,950,486.62. This trade represents a 0.25% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders acquired a total of 9,675,686 shares of company stock valued at $669,388,681 over the last ninety days. 23.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $60.68 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50-day moving average is $69.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.22.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

More W.R. Berkley News

Here are the key news stories impacting W.R. Berkley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo/Mitsui made several purchases this week (multiple filings show buys of 153,000 and 147,000 shares at roughly $71.6–$71.7 per share), signaling increased insider/institutional conviction; the recent disclosed buys total roughly $21M across filings. InsiderTrades Alert
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple news outlets and SEC filings confirm the purchases and show Mitsui Sumitomo increasing a very large base position — buying by a >10% owner is often interpreted by the market as a stabilizing/positive signal for the stock. Investing.com Article
• Neutral Sentiment: W.R. Berkley recently declared a small quarterly dividend ($0.09/share; $0.36 annualized, ~0.5% yield) with a low payout ratio — likely supportive but not a major catalyst given the small yield. Yahoo Finance
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst actions remain mixed-to-cautious: several firms have trimmed price targets and TD Cowen notably cut WRB to a sell with a much lower $55 target — these downgrades cap upside and may keep some traders sidelined. The company also posted a small quarterly EPS miss in late January. MarketBeat Coverage

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.