What Do Hedge Funds Think of W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB)?

As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, assembled the most outsized position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB). Marshall Wace LLP had $19.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Joe DiMenna’s ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS also made a $13.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Millennium Management Subsidiary’s Blue Arrow Capital Management, and Michael Kaine’s Numina Capital.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB). These stocks are The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG), PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM), and Partnerre Ltd (NYSE:PRE). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to WRB’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $526 million. That figure was $1014 million in WRB’s case. The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Partnerre Ltd (NYSE:PRE) is the least popular one with only 24 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) is even less popular than PRE. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.