W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB): An Insider Is Buying, Should You?

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late.

To the average investor, there are many metrics investors can use to monitor stocks. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the key action surrounding W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB).

What have hedge funds been doing with W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from the first quarter.

Seeing as W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, worth an estimated $0.9 million in stock, and David Harding of Winton Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.5 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB). These stocks are Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL), Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS), Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL), Partnerre Ltd (NYSE:PRE), and Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y). This group of stocks belong to the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps resemble WRB’s market cap.