Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 106,486 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Madison Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,724,598 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 106,486 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley makes up 1.4% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $120,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 345,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $24,374,250.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 57,508,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,062,942,884.70. This trade represents a 0.60% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 2,203,798 shares of company stock worth $156,970,121. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $66.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.83. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $63.67 and a 1 year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley 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.