Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 75,122 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 54.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 212,800 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 75,122 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $16,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 965,942 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $74,010,000 after purchasing an additional 207,060 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.1% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 32,264 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $620,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.3% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 658,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,479,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 23,935 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,834,000 after buying an additional 2,418 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $71.72 on Friday. 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 $59.55 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $27.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.10.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.09%.

Insider Activity at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 370,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.07 per share, with a total value of $24,815,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. This represents a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 7,730,064 shares of company stock valued at $531,163,987 over the last 90 days. 23.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $71.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

W.R. Berkley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sumitomo Insurance increased its WRB stake with multiple purchases (roughly 98k shares across filings, ~ $6.8M at reported prices), nudging ownership above 56.5M shares — insider buying at these levels is a bullish signal for investor sentiment. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the Bank of America Financial Services Conference; the transcript offers detail on underwriting, reserves and capital deployment — useful for assessing forward outlook but not an immediate catalyst by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS maintained a Hold rating on WRB, signaling analysts are not yet upgrading despite insider buying — this may limit analyst-driven upside in the near term. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent media pieces are re‑examining WRB’s valuation after a strong multi‑year run, which can increase short‑term volatility as investors debate upside vs. current multiples and consensus earnings growth. Read More. Read More.

W.R. Berkley 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.