W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB Shares Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 49.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 163,079 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,700 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $12,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $67.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $69.00 target price on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.87.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 2.5%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $70.23 on Friday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.37.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.56%.

More W.R. Berkley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board increases share repurchase authorization to 25 million shares — expands the company’s ability to return capital and supports share demand/earnings per share. W.R. Berkley Increases Repurchase Authorization
• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder Sumitomo (Mitsui) bought large blocks across Jan. 5–7 (totaling hundreds of thousands of shares) — a >10% holder adding to its position signals confidence and provides steady buying. Sumitomo SEC filing
• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target to $76 — another analyst view suggesting upside for investors focused on fundamentals. Keefe Bruyette target raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings scheduled for Jan. 26 (after the close) — a near-term catalyst that could drive volatility in either direction. Earnings date announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore ISI downgraded WRB to “underperform” (PT $69) citing EPS pressure — a high-profile downgrade can trigger short-term selling and cautious positioning. Evercore downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America trimmed its target slightly to $73 from $74 — another modest negative datapoint in analyst coverage. BofA target cut

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 265,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.50 per share, with a total value of $18,152,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 51,445,463 shares in the company, valued at $3,524,014,215.50. This trade represents a 0.52% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,638,875 shares of company stock worth $184,652,772. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

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.