Why W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB) Went Up On Friday?

We recently published a list of 10 Firms End Friday Strong; 3 Reach All-Time Highs. In this article, we are going to take a look at where W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) stands against other firms that end Friday strong.

Wall Street’s main indices finished the trading week in the negative territory as investor sentiment was weighed down by economic uncertainties brought about by the ongoing trade tensions globally.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell the heaviest, by 2.70 percent, followed by the S&P 500, by 1.97 percent, and the Dow Jones, by 1.69 percent.

Despite the broader market downturn, 10 individual stocks showed a strong performance during the trading session, with three companies particularly notable for hitting new all-time highs.

In this article, we listed Friday’s top performers and detailed the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with a $2-billion market capitalization and $5 million in trading volume.

An insurance agent sitting across a desk from a client reviewing their policy.

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

WR Berkley Corp. rallied for a fifth consecutive day on Friday to reach a new all-time high following news that Japan-based Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance is planning to acquire a significant stake in the company.

During the trading session, WRB hit a record high of $76.38 apiece before profit-taking pulled the company’s stock price lower to end just up by 7.53 percent at $71.27 apiece.

According to WRB, Mitsui is set to acquire a 15-percent stake in the company through open market purchase or private third-party transactions.

The Berkley family, however, said that it would not sell any of its common shares ownership in the company and that the Mitsui would not purchase any more shares directly from the firm.

WRB is a commercial lines property and casualty insurance holding firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Overall, WRB ranks 2nd on our list of firms that end Friday strong. While we acknowledge the potential of WRB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as WRB but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.