Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 14,194 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,735,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,194 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $132,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the second 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, Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about W.R. Berkley

Here are the key news stories impacting W.R. Berkley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large, repeated insider purchases by major shareholder Sumitomo (Mitsui) over several days — totaling hundreds of thousands of shares and adding materially to a >10% stake — signal strong insider confidence and likely underpin buying interest. SEC Filing: Sumitomo/Mitsui buys WRB shares
• Positive Sentiment: Company commentary and updates highlighted record profitability, a $971M program of buybacks/dividends and a sub?30% expense?ratio target alongside increased technology investment — supportive for EPS and capital returns over time. W. R. Berkley signals increased technology investments and affirms sub?30% expense ratio target while returning $971M to shareholders
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 results showed a very small EPS miss ($1.13 vs. $1.14 consensus) with revenue roughly in line — not a material shock but it removes upside surprise from the quarter. W R Berkley (WRB) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Several sell?side firms cut price targets (Jefferies, Mizuho, Wells Fargo, Bank of America) and the consensus analyst rating sits at “Reduce”, applying downward pressure and limiting near?term upside. WRB Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts flag slowing growth and valuation concerns despite solid underwriting — trimmed targets to the mid?$60s raise the risk of further multiple compression if results do not accelerate. W. R. Berkley: Solid Underwriting but Slowing Growth and Limited Upside Justify Neutral (Hold) Rating

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 195,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.36 per share, with a total value of $13,330,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 56,103,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,835,230,816.60. This represents a 0.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired a total of 7,296,847 shares of company stock worth $501,460,875 in the last quarter. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI set a $69.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $70.43.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE WRB opened at $68.56 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.07 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.02.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.09%.

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.