Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 20,785 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,254 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,785 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,938 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 6.5% in the third quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 20,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 76,103 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,831,000 after acquiring an additional 2,848 shares during the last quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,597 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Steph & Co. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.3% during the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 2,151 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $70.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.97 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.28 and its 200 day moving average is $72.57.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.01%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $67.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.93.

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 204,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.38 per share, for a total transaction of $14,177,803.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 48,805,938 shares in the company, valued at $3,386,155,978.44. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders bought 610,350 shares of company stock valued at $42,548,323 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.