ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Invests $20.92 Million in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 298,363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,921,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stance Capital LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% during the third quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after purchasing an additional 38,013 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,630,000. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,801,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 682.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 24,985 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,914,000 after purchasing an additional 21,791 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 118,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,336,000 after purchasing an additional 18,820 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $68.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

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.