Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $1.19 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 37.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,724 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the second quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $60.83 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $58.46 and its 200 day moving average is $56.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

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.