W.R. Berkley Corp. WRB shares dropped in the extended session Thursday after the insurer missed the Wall Street consensus by several marks in its first-quarter earnings report. W.R. Berkley shares fell 4.5% after hours, following a 0.8% rise in the regular session to close at $63.36. Gross premiums written in the first quarter rose to $3.05 billion from $2.86 billion, but were short of the $3.06 billion consensus from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Net premiums written increased to $2.57 billion from $2.41 billion last year, but short of the Street’s $2.6 billion expectation. Net income fell to $294.1 million, or $1.06 a share, from $590.6 million, or $2.12 a share, in the year-ago period. And, then, the company reported that operating income per share fell to $1 from $1.10 a year ago, while analysts were looking for $1.23. Total revenue fell to $2.9 billion from $2.92 billion a year ago, while analysts had forecast $2.92 billion.
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