Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 42,821 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 42,821 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $4,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during 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 raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.2%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $67.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $25.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.33.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WRB. Weiss Ratings lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial reduced their price target on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 112,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.20 per share, for a total transaction of $8,099,107.20. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at $4,243,948,490. This trade represents a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders bought 1,111,830 shares of company stock worth $79,622,596. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.