Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 325,960 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 33.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 660,696 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 325,960 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $50,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $188,174,000 after buying an additional 2,601,230 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,715,583,000 after buying an additional 625,685 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $534,438,000 after buying an additional 577,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at about $29,617,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 112,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. This trade represents a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 9,933,862 shares of company stock worth $688,134,108 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.5%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $69.93 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $60.68 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.21. The stock has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.35.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.09%.

Key Headlines Impacting W.R. Berkley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Major insider purchases — Two filings show a significant shareholder bought roughly $8.10M and another $10.65M of WRB stock, signalling strong insider confidence and providing a bullish catalyst for the shares. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks bumped long-term (FY2028) outlook slightly — Zacks raised its FY2028 EPS estimate to $4.90 from $4.85, a modest positive for multi-year growth expectations (though well beyond current-year consensus of $4.33).
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term estimate trims from Zacks — On March 6 Zacks trimmed several short-term forecasts by only a few cents: Q1 2026 to $1.14 (from $1.15), Q1 2027 to $1.15 (from $1.16), Q2 2027 to $1.21 (from $1.22), Q3 2027 to $1.08 (from $1.09), FY2026 to $4.55 (from $4.56) and FY2027 to $4.75 (from $4.78). These are small downward adjustments that modestly lower near-term expectations but leave full-year figures largely intact.

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.