W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,421 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,140 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.41 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.90. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.30 and a 12-month high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley 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.