W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Increased by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 36.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,901 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,387 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,841 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 448.8% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 13,348 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 10,916 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.83 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.21. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

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.