Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Acquires 9,076 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 633,285 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,076 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley comprises approximately 6.6% of Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $44,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,601 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake 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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE WRB opened at $67.45 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $78.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.63 and a 200-day simple 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. The firm has a market capitalization 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Brean Capital downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Argus downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.81.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 220,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $71.15 per share, with a total value of $15,653,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 57,888,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,118,775,313. This represents a 0.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,111,830 shares of company stock valued at $79,622,596. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.