W.R. Berkley Corporation’s WRB fourth-quarter 2019 operating income of 72 cents per share came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The bottom line improved 18% year over year on higher premiums written.Behind the HeadlinesW.R. Berkley’s net premiums written were $1.6 billion, up 9.3% year over year. Higher premiums written at both the Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segments contributed to this upside.Operating revenues of $1.8 billion were up 3.8% year over year, mainly owing to higher net premiums earned. However, the same missed the consensus estimate by 5.8%.Investment income decreased 14.1% year over year to $137.3 million due to weak performance of investment funds compared with strong returns in the year-ago quarter.Total expenses inched up 2.3% to $1.8 billion, primarily on higher losses and loss expenses.Catastrophe loss totaled $20.4 million in the quarter, reflecting a 55% plunge year over year. Consolidated combined ratio (a measure of underwriting profitability) was 93.3%, contracting 260 basis points year over year.W.R. Berkley Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise W.R. Berkley Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | W.R. Berkley Corporation QuoteSegmental DetailsNet premiums written at the Insurance segment grew 8.2% year over year to $1.5 billion in the quarter. Combined ratio contracted 290 bps year over year to 93%.Net premiums written in the Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment increased 18.9% year over year to $175.6 million. Combined ratio contracted 50 bps year over year to 95.5%.Financial UpdateW.R. Berkley exited the fourth quarter with total assets worth $26.6 billion, up 7% from the 2018-end figure.Book value per share improved 11.4% from the level at 2018 end to $33.12 as of Dec 31, 2019.Cash flow from operations totaled $348.7 million in the quarter, up 25.6% year over year.The company’s return on equity contracted 100 bps year over year to 8.8%.Share Repurchase UpdateIn the quarter under review, the company returned $158 million of ordinary and special dividends to its shareholders and bought back shares worth $18 million.Full-Year UpdateFor 2019, return on equity was 12.5%.The company’s total shareholder value addition came in at $326 million in the form of share buybacks and ordinary and special dividends. Net premiums written for the year increased 6.7% year over year to $6.8 billion.Total revenues for 2019 summed $7.9 billion, up 2.7% year over year.Zacks Rank and Performance of Other PlayersW.R. Berkley sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Among other players from the insurance industry having reported fourth-quarter earnings so far, the bottom-line results of Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO and RLI Corp. RLI beat estimates while that of Principal Financial PFG matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate.Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.See the pot trades we're targeting>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO): Free Stock Analysis Report Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG): Free Stock Analysis Report W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB): Free Stock Analysis Report RLI Corp. (RLI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research