Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Increases Stock Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 3.6% to a total of 96,851 shares, valued at approximately $7.1 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have also significantly increased their positions in W.R. Berkley, with one firm, GAMMA Investing LLC, raising its stake by an astonishing 8,709.4%.
• W.R. Berkley recently reported earnings of $1.05 per share, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share with a yield of 0.5%.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 96,851 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 3,395 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $7,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,750 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,731,000 after acquiring an additional 50,361 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 641.7% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,654 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 3,332 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,812,000 after acquiring an additional 664,266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:WRB opened at $75.94 on Monday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

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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