Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Purchases New Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 23,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,630,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 22.3% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the third quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 40.2% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.3% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 4.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 345,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $24,374,250.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders bought 2,261,794 shares of company stock worth $161,022,960. Insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:WRB opened at $65.68 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $63.67 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.00.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen raised W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $68.81.

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.