California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 36,446 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,184,407 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,446 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.46% of W. R. Berkley worth $83,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE WRB opened at $77.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.21.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.