W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Stake Cut by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 37.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 448,237 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 263,504 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.12% of W.R. Berkley worth $31,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted 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. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,648 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,317 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 121.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,066 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,356 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered 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 report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.42.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0%

WRB traded up $0.73 on Friday, reaching $71.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,422,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,777,817. The stock has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business's 50 day moving average is $72.82 and its 200 day moving average is $66.04. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.35%.

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.