Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Invests $608,000 in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,544 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after buying an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after buying an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $272,582,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.64.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $73.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.41 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $72.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.44.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.

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