Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Purchases 11,500 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lifted its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 12.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $8,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.9% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,496,000 after buying an additional 16,450 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares in the last quarter. American Trust acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,847,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 133.5% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,520 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 18,022 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.2%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $69.43 and its 200-day moving average is $72.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $60.68 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 12.10%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. This trade represents a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 8,822,032 shares of company stock worth $608,511,512 over the last three months. Insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.

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.