Prospera Financial Services Inc Raises Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 705.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,017 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,284 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 20,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.99 per share, with a total value of $1,439,800.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 56,576,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,072,953,177.48. This represents a 0.04% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased a total of 7,750,064 shares of company stock worth $532,603,787 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.9%

WRB opened at $69.60 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.55 and a 12-month high of $78.96. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.11.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during 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%.W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

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.